KitKat (cat)

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Wikipedia

The community-built altar for KitKat, a cat run over by Waymo. Photo taken on November 1, 2025, the day before the annual Dia de los Muertos celebration.

KitKat was a bodega cat from the Mission District of San Francisco who was killed by a Waymo car on October 27, 2025.

Life

Mike Zeidan, the owner of Randa's Market, adopted KitKat as a stray to help keep rodents out of his store.[1][2] KitKat lived in Randa's Market for six years[3] and was well-loved by the neighborhood,[4][5] including an appearance on a shop cats map that went viral in 2022 as a "particularly friendly cat"[6][7] After KitKat arrived at the bodega, customers were said to come more often, and regularly brought the cat food and gifts.[8][2]

Death

At around 11:40 pm on October 27, 2025, witnesses saw KitKat sitting in front of a stopped Waymo car for seven seconds. He walked under the car as the car pulled out, and the right rear tire ran over the back half of his body.[9][10][8] A bartender who was taking a cigarette break used a sandwich board sign as a stretcher took KitKat to an emergency animal clinic. An hour later, KitKat was pronounced dead.[8][11] Waymo confirmed that the cat was killed by one of its vehicles on October 30.[9] Surveillance footage of the incident was released in December.[12]

From Waymo's report to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA):[13]

The Waymo AV was stopped next to the curb for a passenger pickup facing east on 16th Street. As the passengers were boarding the Waymo AV, a cat approached the Waymo AV from the southern sidewalk of 16th Street and sat in the roadway partially under the front right corner of the Waymo AV. A pedestrian approached the Waymo AV from the east on the southern sidewalk of 16th Street and began crouching near the front of the Waymo AV, stepping partially into the roadway, appearing to reach for the cat. As they did so, the cat moved farther from the sidewalk under the Waymo AV and the pedestrian stepped back onto the sidewalk. The Waymo AV then departed the pickup location and the rear right tire made contact with the cat. At the time of impact, the Waymo AV's Level 4 ADS was engaged in autonomous mode. Waymo later received notice that the cat did not survive. The passengers in the Waymo AV did not have seatbelts fastened at the time, having just boarded the Waymo AV.

Prior to KitKat's death, the NHTSA had logged 14 collisions between Waymo cars and animals, of which 5 were confirmed fatalities.[13]

Aftermath

After KitKat's death, an altar was created outside Randa's Market.[1][2] People left flowers, candles, cat food, written notes, and Kit Kat candy bars in the cat's honor.[9][14][15] A city worker took down the memorial for fire safety reasons, but neighbors built it again.[5]

Local supervisor Jackie Fielder held a rally called "Justice for KitKat" in support of a non-binding San Francisco resolution to shift decision-making about the operation of self-driving cars from the state to individual counties.[8][16][17][18][5][19] Critics say that the resolution is performative because it is non-binding,[17] that local control would make autonomous vehicle operation impractical,[19] and that Waymo is still far less dangerous to animals than human drivers.[8][20] Elon Musk commented that "many pets will be saved by autonomy".[21][22]

There are multiple meme coins inspired by KitKat.[8]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Kelly, George (October 31, 2025). "Waymo allegedly kills cat at San Francisco store". The San Francisco Standard.
  2. 1 2 3 Karoff, Timothy (October 30, 2025). "SF neighborhood mourns loss of bodega cat allegedly killed by Waymo". SFGate.
  3. ↑ Swan, Rachel (November 5, 2025). "How a cat named KitKat became San Francisco's latest symbol of anti-tech rage". San Francisco Chronicle.
  4. ↑ Li, Katherine. "San Francisco's Mission District is mourning an iconic bodega cat after it was run over by a Waymo". Business Insider. Retrieved November 16, 2025.
  5. 1 2 3 Orellana Hernandez, Angie (November 6, 2025). "Death of KitKat, a beloved San Francisco cat, reignites fury over robotaxis". The Washington Post.
  6. ↑ Bartlett, Amanda (December 10, 2020). "Meet the corner store cats of San Francisco". SFGate.
  7. ↑ Vainshtein, Annie (October 20, 2022). "Do you know these felines? Map featuring the 'store cats' of San Francisco goes viral". San Francisco Chronicle.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Knight, Heather (November 15, 2025). "Waymo Was Thriving in San Francisco. Then One of Its Driverless Cars Killed a Cat". The New York Times.
  9. 1 2 3 Palma, Oscar (October 31, 2025). "Waymo confirms its car killed KitKat, the Mission bodega cat". Mission Local.
  10. ↑ Palma, Oscar; Eskenazi, Joe (November 4, 2025). "KitKat killing drives experts to say Waymo must come clean". Mission Local.
  11. ↑ Palma, Oscar (October 29, 2025). "KitKat, liquor store mascot and '16th St. Ambassador,' killed—Allegedly by Waymo". Mission Local.
  12. ↑ Dwyer, Mimi (December 5, 2025). "New Footage Shows the Moment a Waymo Killed a Bodega Cat". The New York Times. Retrieved December 7, 2025.
  13. 1 2 "Standing General Order on Crash Reporting". NHTSA. Retrieved December 15, 2025. KitKat's death is report 30270-12070.
  14. ↑ "Beloved store cat in San Francisco's Mission District killed by Waymo". CBS News. October 29, 2025. Retrieved November 16, 2025.
  15. ↑ Gibson, Mary Jane (November 5, 2025). "A Robotaxi Killed a Beloved Bodega Cat in San Francisco. People Are Pissed". Rolling Stone.
  16. ↑ "San Francisco supervisor to hold rally for cat killed by Waymo". KTVU. November 3, 2025.
  17. 1 2 Lashinsky, Adam (November 4, 2025). "Never let a dead cat go to waste". The San Francisco Standard.
  18. ↑ Ha, Anthony (November 16, 2025). "Beloved SF cat's death fuels Waymo criticism". TechCrunch.
  19. 1 2 Lopez, Nadia (November 5, 2025). "Beloved Mission cat's death sparks call for local robotaxi oversight". Axios.
  20. ↑ "Letters: Supervisor's response to Waymo killing a cat is so typical of S.F. politics". San Francisco Chronicle. November 5, 2025.
  21. ↑ McFall, Marni Rose. "Elon Musk reacts to San Francisco cat being killed by Waymo driverless car". Newsweek. Retrieved November 16, 2025.
  22. ↑ Vaziri, Aidin (November 2, 2025). "San Francisco mourns cat killed by Waymo self-driving car". San Francisco Chronicle.