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I think the mechanics of doing it without enabling a lot of much more dangerous things are a lot harder than you'd expect, in ways that you don't expect (that 10k minimum price is actually pretty high!). The good news is that true autonomy is very hard, right now: the minimum power and payload for live YOLO processing starts around 500 USD, 15 watts, and the better part of a pound, which is actually kinda rough for a small drone you want to have moderate range, and probably isn't enough for what you want. But these may not stay hard for long, and close-enough autonomy might be closer.
But I'm pro-Defense Distributed and pro-Cathode_g, so I'm not opposed to it just because of that. Outside of the general "driven by the beauty of our weapons" problems:
Tools aren't limited to the scenarios you'd design them for. Expect to see them used not just around an existing permanent zone, but also just as short-term punishments for areas where opposed groups are (or are believed) to congregate. At 10k USD against
350-500 USD per set of tires, an area with30 cars becomes a target, and that includes even moderately sized political meetings, nevermind something broader like a convention center.Expect to see them used as parts of broader scenarios: eg, blocking a road with protesters and then causing many cars stuck in the traffic to get stuck with four popped tires, or (more morbidly) to block evacuations from more direct attacks.
Tools aren't limited to their use by the people you want to use them. That is, expect everyone from tire salesman to anti-public-transport activists to wackos trying to take over a wildlife refuge to use them, on everything that holds a fluid or gas in a thin and less-than-steel-hard shell. And some of the addon threats are things that could not be done with a rifle: there are some things in this category that are 'virtue of silence' materials because they could result in hundreds of indirect deaths per event, without the knowing intent of the 'activist'.
Mental frameworks for a threat are sometimes as important as the physical capabilities, for better and for ill: 'school shootings' are the most overt example of using old technology for awful ends and having a massive uptick because the concept entered the realm of the possible, but I think this is also part of why post-DC sniper attacks aren't discussed prominently anymore. But the nature of your proposal will provide a mental framework that can be readily adapted.
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