Tesla CEO Elon Musk called rival Waymo’s vehicle a “pet destroyer” and promoted an update to Tesla’s robotaxi aimed at detecting pets at night during a Tesla Owners Livestream from Silicon Valley. (Credit: Tesla Owners of Silicon Valley)
Elon Musk accused driverless car rival Waymo of being a “pet exterminator” as he unveiled an update to Tesla’s robotaxi designed to find pets in some of the toughest nighttime driving conditions.
The Tesla CEO made the comments during Tesla Owners’ live broadcast from Silicon Valley on Saturday when he discussed testing the company’s robotaxis before expanding to new cities.
“Maybe what a lot of people don’t realize is that Waymos is like a pet peeve,” Musk said. “Maybe Waymo has made some improvements on that front, but there are a lot of pets, and we don’t want to run over pets.”
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Elon Musk is pictured next to a Tesla Cybercab. (Chesnot/Getty Images and Sjoerd van der Wal/Getty Images/Getty Images)
Musk described the difficulty of detecting gray kittens on gray pavement, especially at night and with low visibility.
“So that we actually solve the problem,” he said, before explaining that Tesla would make the changes, test them and then deploy them.
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They did not provide a launch date or data showing how well Tesla’s vehicles can detect animals and avoid collisions.
Waymo is facing backlash after one of its driverless vehicles hit and killed KitKat, a beloved cat at a San Francisco corner store, in October 2025, according to KTVU.
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KitKat, the beloved cat at the Widow’s Market in San Francisco, was killed by a Waymo vehicle in October 2025, according to KTVU. (KTVU/Fox News)
The owner of the store told the outlet that the cat was killed by a Waymo vehicle. Waymo says a cat ran under the vehicle when it stopped after stopping to pick up a passenger.
The company expressed its sympathy to the owner and the community and said it would make a donation to a local animal rights organization in KitKat’s honor.
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A memorial sign honors KitKat, the beloved San Francisco store cat killed by a Waymo vehicle in October 2025. (KTVU/Fox News)
Animal collisions have been reported by both companies’ robotaxi services.
Between July 2025 and July 2026, Waymo reported at least nine accidents involving animals, six of which were domestic animals, Business Insider reported, citing National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data.
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A Tesla robotaxi drives down the street on South Congress Avenue in Austin, Texas, on June 22, 2025. (Reuters/Joel Angel Juarez/Reuters)
Tesla also reported an animal collision during that time involving a supervised robotaxi, according to Business Insider. Tesla operates a smaller fleet, with most of its driverless operations concentrated in Austin, the outlet reported.
NHTSA cautioned that differences in vehicle reporting and operation limit direct comparisons between companies.
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During the livestream, Musk also said that Tesla checks dangerous or confusing intersections before entering additional cities, with special attention to railroad crossings.
“Before we go to a new city, we want to make sure there are no problematic or dangerous intersections,” he said. “We want to be very careful with the train crossing.”
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Musk said that confusing intersections can cause human drivers to make mistakes, especially if they are unfamiliar with the area. Tesla wants the robotaxis to navigate the place safely or avoid it when the service is first launched in a new city, he said.
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FOX Business reached out to Waymo for comment on Musk’s comments.