[dllu]

It's pretty illegal to point lasers at vehicles. Many states and countries have laws against that. For example, in California,

California Penal Code Section 417.27

(c) No person shall direct the beam from a laser pointer directly or indirectly into the eye or eyes of another person or into a moving vehicle with the intent to harass or annoy the other person or the occupants of the moving vehicle.

[dsl]

It is illegal for a laser pointer, where most people defer to the FDA definition of "... handheld lasers that are promoted for pointing out objects or locations."

There is already established case law around this, where larger hobby lasers intended for popping balloons and theatrical lasers are exempt.

You could build a large array of laser emitters intended to obstruct self driving vehicles (say you wanted to create a fake wall to prevent a car from driving the wrong way), and safely ignore these laws.

[dragonwriter]

> It is illegal for a laser pointer, where most people defer to the FDA definition of "... handheld lasers that are promoted for pointing out objects or locations."

No the law in question defines the term, it doesn't defer to the FDA; Cal. Penal Code § 417.27(f): «As used in this section, “laser pointer” has the same meaning as set forth in subdivision (c) of Section 417.25»

Cal. Penal Code § 417.25(c): «As used in this section, “laser pointer” means any hand held laser beam device or demonstration laser product that emits a single point of light amplified by the stimulated emission of radiation that is visible to the human eye.»

[dsl]

If you read the definition you just quoted at me, it is basically the same.

Any device that emits more than a single point of light, or is not hand held is not covered.

[dllu]

You're right, I stand corrected. It is just a matter of time before that gets banned as well, though.