Some residents of Phoenix, Arizona, have taken to attacking Waymo LLC self-driving vehicles in an apparent backlash to the use of the technology on their streets.

In the last two years, 21 incidents involving attacks on the vehicles have been reported, ranging from tire slashing through to a man threatening a vehicle with a gun.

AZCentral reported earlier this week that the incidents include five cases where people threw rocks at Waymo vehicles, a number of occasions of people yelling at the vehicles and six cases of the same Jeep harassing the vehicles on the road.

In the case of the gun attack, a test driver reported that a bearded man in shorts aimed a handgun at him as he passed the man’s driveway.

The man with the gun, Roy Leonard Haselton, 69, was later arrested over the incident, telling police that his intention was to scare the driver because he hates the Waymo vehicles.

On another occasion, a man described as being “heavily intoxicated” deliberately blocked the path of one of the vehicles by standing in front of it.

“He stated he was sick and tired of the Waymo vehicles driving in his neighborhood and apparently thought the best idea to resolve this was to stand in front of one of these vehicles,” a police report described the incident.

The AZCentral story noted that the number of attacks may be significantly higher, since Waymo does not always report incidents to police.

In response to the report, Waymo provided a boilerplate statement that “safety is at the core of everything we do, which means that keeping our drivers, our riders, and the public safe is our top priority.”

The company added that over the past two years, it has “found Arizonans to be welcoming and excited by the potential of this technology to make our roads safer. We believe a key element of local engagement has been our ongoing work with the communities in which we drive, including Arizona law enforcement and first responders.”

Although there’s no excuse for vigilante action, citizen concern with the vehicles may not be entirely unfounded. In August it was reported that the vehicles have problems turning around corners and that still seems to be the case today. Video taken only this week (below) by AZCentral shows that the vehicles are indecisive.

Photo: Waymo