A Minneapolis City Council member’s comments about Waymo vehicles killing cats have drawn widespread ridicule online, even as the council narrowly passed an ordinance Thursday that would require a human operator and a special license for all autonomous vehicles operating in the city.
Council Member Jason Chavez defended the measure to his colleagues by citing harm to pets. “I will say cats have been killed and cats have been killed by these autonomous vehicles,” Chavez said. “I have a cat, I don’t want my cat getting killed because of these autonomous vehicles so to those cat lovers out there, just know that these Waymo vehicles, these autonomous vehicles have killed cats and that’s unfair. I just watched a video sitting here from the dais and it was really hard to watch. Literally cats being murdered by these vehicles.”
The ordinance’s fate is now uncertain. Mayor Jacob Frey has said he intends to veto it, telling Minnesota outlets the proposal “doesn’t make sense” and that the city wants to continue embracing “innovative technology,” including new transportation options. Frey acknowledged safety concerns but said he would not back what he called a “backdoor ban” on the vehicles.
Supporters of the human-operator requirement argue that without it, autonomous taxi services would effectively be shut out of the city, raising fares for riders. Opponents of the vehicles counter that the technology creates safety hazards and threatens driving jobs.
Online Backlash
Chavez’s remarks about cats quickly became a target for critics online, many of whom accused him of focusing on a minor issue while larger city problems go unaddressed.
“The Minneapolis City Council wants to require a human in driverless vehicles because cats are being ‘murdered’ by them. This guy’s salary is $110,000/year, by the way,” Townhall columnist Dustin Grage wrote on X.
Grage followed up with additional posts, including “They’re calling it the cat genocide” and “Hide your cats. The Waymos are coming.”
Conservative commentator Gunther Eagleman also weighed in, writing, “LOL! MINNEAPOLIS HAS FOUND ITS REAL CRISIS, AND IT’S ROBOT CARS ‘MURDERING’ CATS.” In a separate post, Eagleman argued the council should be focused elsewhere: “A council member in a city that let rioters burn down a police precinct and watched a $250 million fraud scheme happen under its nose now wants a human in every driverless car to protect the cats. He’s pulling down $110,000 a year of taxpayer money to say this with a straight face. Minneapolis doesn’t have a driverless car problem. It has a leadership problem.”
Fox News Digital columnist David Marcus posted, “They’re driving over the cats, they’re driving over the dogs!” Three Rivers Park Commissioner Jennifer DeJournett questioned Chavez’s salary in light of other local concerns, writing on X, “Why is a city council member making 110,000 when families and seniors are getting priced out of their homes in Minneapolis and taxes are sky rocking????? That’s absurd – where is the equality in that???”
Not everyone dismissed the concern about animal safety outright. Journalist Zaid Jilani wrote that he had once ridden in a self-driving Tesla that stopped for cats crossing the road, adding that Waymo’s technology is more advanced. Dealer Teamwork CEO and co-founder Sean Stapleton wrote, “My FSD Tesla avoids animals on the road. He is full of it.”
Fox News Digital said it reached out to Chavez for comment.
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