I smell a rat. Could this guy be a stalking horse? Run as a Democrat on a crazy platform so as to discredit Democrats? And/or aim to stir up such outrage again

I smell a rat. Could this guy be a stalking horse? Run as a Democrat on a crazy platform so as to discredit Democrats? And/or aim to stir up such outrage against a self-driving prohibition so that congress passes a contrary law to have the feds pay for research into self-driving cars? (Sorry if this sounds like tin-foil hat stuff - it's been a long day...)