Elon Musk Calls Waymo Robotaxis 'Pet Destroyers,' Claims Tesla Solved Animal Detection

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, has publicly criticized Waymo's autonomous vehicles, labeling them "pet destroyers" and asserting that Tesla's own robotaxi technology, "Cybercab," has overcome the challenge of detecting and avoiding animals. Musk made these remarks during a livestreamed interview with Tesla Owners of Silicon Valley, alleging that Waymo vehicles have been involved in numerous incidents with pets. He stated that while Waymo might have made improvements, their vehicles "run over a lot of pets."

Musk highlighted the difficulties in detecting small animals, particularly pets, in adverse driving conditions such as nighttime with low visibility. He described the challenge of identifying "gray kittens on a gray tarmac with tar seams at night." He claimed that Tesla has developed a solution to this problem and plans to deploy an update, though he did not provide a specific timeline or data to substantiate these claims.

Waymo has faced scrutiny in the past over incidents involving animals. One notable case involved the death of a cat named KitKat in San Francisco in October 2025. The cat was struck by a Waymo robotaxi and died later that night, drawing significant public attention. Initially, Waymo stated the cat darted under the vehicle as it departed. However, surveillance footage published by The New York Times in December 2025 appeared to show the moments before the collision, raising further questions about the vehicle's detection capabilities.

Shortly after the KitKat incident, another Waymo vehicle was involved in a collision with a small dog in San Francisco's Western Addition neighborhood in late November 2025. Waymo confirmed contact with the dog, which suffered severe pelvic trauma and was subsequently euthanized by its owners.

Data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration indicates that Waymo reported at least nine crashes involving animals between July 2025 and July 2026, with six of these involving domestic animals. Tesla reported one animal collision during the same period, involving a supervised robotaxi. However, direct comparisons between the two companies' safety records are complicated by differences in fleet size and operational conditions, with Tesla's unsupervised robotaxi operations being more concentrated in Austin during that time.

Musk also discussed Tesla's expansion plans, noting the company's focus on identifying and evaluating potentially hazardous intersections, such as railroad crossings, before launching services in new cities. He emphasized that unfamiliar or confusing intersections can pose challenges for human drivers as well, and Tesla aims to ensure its robotaxis can navigate these locations safely or avoid them when initially entering a new market.