埃隆·马斯克在一次由特斯拉硅谷车主俱乐部周六主办的现场直播采访中，对其Robotaxi竞争对手Waymo进行了抨击，称其车辆为“宠物杀手”，并表示特斯拉Robotaxi已经解决了避开流浪宠物的问题。马斯克在采访中笑称：“很多人不知道的是，Waymo就像宠物杀手。”他补充道：“也许Waymo在这方面已经做了一些改进，但它们确实会碾压很多宠物，而我们不想碾压宠物。”
Elon Musk took a dig at his robotaxi rival, Waymo, calling the vehicles "pet destroyers," and said Tesla Robotaxi has solved the issue of avoiding stray pets. During a livestreamed interview at an event hosted by Tesla Owners of Silicon Valley on Saturday, Musk called out Waymo for its reported collisions with animals. "What a lot of people don't know is that Waymos are like pet destroyers," Musk said, laughing. "Well, maybe Waymo's made some improvements on that front, but they do run over a lot of pets, and we don't want to run over pets."
Waymo此前曾因动物碰撞事件受到批评，最值得注意的是2025年10月在旧金山一个社区发生的一起事件，其车辆与一只名叫KitKat的受喜爱的便利店猫相撞。该猫在被Waymo右后轮碾压后死亡，这一画面曾被《纽约时报》获得并播出。这并非Waymo首次发生动物碰撞事件。根据美国国家公路交通安全管理局（NHTSA）的常设一般命令，像Waymo这样的自动驾驶汽车公司必须报告符合条件的事故。
Waymo has gotten flak over animal collisions before, most notably after its run-in with a beloved bodega cat in a San Francisco neighborhood back in October 2025. The feline, named KitKat, died after it was run over by Waymo's rear right tire, video obtained by The New York Times showed. That is not Waymo's first collision with an animal. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Standing General Order requires autonomous vehicle companies like Waymo to report qualifying crashes.
NHTSA的数据显示，在2025年7月至2026年7月之间，Waymo报告了至少9起涉及动物的事故，其中6起被Waymo描述为涉及家养动物。Waymo发言人未就置评请求作出回应。
NHTSA data showed that between July 2025 and July 2026, Waymo reported at least 9 crashes involving animals, 6 of which Waymo described as domestic animals. A Waymo spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
特斯拉的Robotaxi服务在同一时期也报告了一起涉及动物的事故，但该事故涉及的是有人监督的Robotaxi。特斯拉当时运营的车队规模较小，且其大部分无人监督的运营集中在奥斯汀一城。马斯克在虚拟采访中表示，特斯拉Robotaxi将能够在夜间检测到游荡的宠物。他举例说：“我们面临的挑战实际上就像：在夜间能见度低的灰色沥青路上，有灰色的小猫和沥青接缝。我们想知道，‘我们能不碾过小猫吗？’”
Tesla's robotaxi service also reported a collision involving an animal during the same time period, but the incident involved a supervised robotaxi. Tesla also operated a smaller fleet, and most of its unsupervised operations were concentrated in one city: Austin. Musk said during the virtual interview that Tesla Robotaxi will be able to detect roaming pets at night. "We have these challenges of literally like: gray kittens on a gray tarmac with tar seams at night in low visibility. And it's like, 'Can we not run over the kittenwork device; here's our guide to sharing information securely.