The companies have a permit from the government authority having jurisdiction, do they not?
It’s patently unreasonable IMO to demand they secure individual permission anymore than Delta needs my individual permission to takeoff from the nearby airport.
That's not a fair comparison at all. You seem to be under the impression that the law is always up to date with technology and the times. There is no precedent for self driving cars, and a lot of law has to be developed and precedent established before things start making sense in this context.
I need not state this, but self driving cars pose a danger quite different from airplanes.
Waymo has governmental OK to operate, just as Delta has FAA approval to operate. AZ governor is trying to make Arizona a leader in the space.
If his constituents disagree with their collective civilization’s decision, they should take their words to him, not their rocks and knives to mete out vigilante justice.
I think a closer analogy would be if Delta was developing an experimental plane that was not certified for commercial use and they got permission to operate it over a residential area.
Technically correct but you'd understand if people who lived under the flight path might have some concerns, even more so if they weren't involved and/or asked as a part of the operational endorsement.
I guess I wasn't clear about my stance: I can't fault their grievances, but I can and do fault their methods. I'm pretty sure that obtaining the government permit didn't involve the constituency. There are ways of responding to that, without resorting to crime.
It’s patently unreasonable IMO to demand they secure individual permission anymore than Delta needs my individual permission to takeoff from the nearby airport.