Anti-robot vigilantes in Arizona try to scare off Waymo’s self-driving cars

But, when exposed to it, most people seem to react with a mixture of caution and optimism. Not everyone likes change though. Nobody understands that more than Waymo’s human drivers.

Waymo, a Google sister-company, found the perfect testing ground for its self-driving taxi program in Arizona. The weather’s perfect and the local government is amenable.

But, for some Arizona locals, the home of the Grand Canyon has become an uncanny valley they can’t abide. The idea of driverless vehicles occupying the same roads as them, their families, and the general public is too much for them to accept.

One Arizonan, from the city of Chandler, became so fed up with the sight of Waymo‘s vans in his neighborhood that he stood on his lawn pointing a pistol at the human safety driver inside of one as it passed his home. He told police he wanted the person in the car to be afraid, presumably to send the message that self-driving cars aren’t welcome.

He’s one of dozens of citizens (on record) who’ve engaged in wildly dangerous acts provoked by, apparently, nothing more than the idea of a car driving itself.