Controlling driving modes of self-driving vehicles

A computer program product for controlling a driving mode of a self-driving vehicle (SDV), the computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having program code embodied therewith, the program code readable and executable by a processor to perform a method comprising:

• receiving sensor readings from a sensor, wherein the sensor readings describe a current operational anomaly in a self-driving vehicle (SDV) that is traveling on a roadway, wherein the SDV is capable of being operated in autonomous mode by an SDV control processor that is on board the SDV, wherein a driving mode module selectively controls whether the SDV is operated in the autonomous mode or in manual mode, and wherein the SDV is controlled by a human driver of the SDV if in the manual mode;
• determining a control processor competence level of the SDV control processor, wherein the control processor competence level describes a competence level of the SDV control processor in controlling the SDV while the SDV experiences the current operational anomaly;
• receiving a driver profile of the human driver of the SDV, wherein the driver profile describes a human driver competence level of the human driver in controlling the SDV while the SDV experiences the current operational anomaly;
• comparing the control processor competence level to the human driver competence level;
• and
• selectively assigning control of the SDV to the SDV control processor or to the human driver while the SDV experiences the current operational anomaly based on which of the control processor competence level and the human driver competence level is relatively higher to one another.

A computer system comprising:

• a processor, a computer readable memory, and a non-transitory computer readable storage medium;
• first program instructions to receive sensor readings from a sensor, wherein the sensor readings describe a current operational anomaly in a self-driving vehicle (SDV) that is traveling on a roadway, wherein the SDV is capable of being operated in autonomous mode by an SDV control processor that is on board the SDV, wherein a driving mode module selectively controls whether the SDV is operated in the autonomous mode or in manual mode, and wherein the SDV is controlled by a human driver of the SDV if in the manual mode;
• second program instructions to determine a control processor competence level of the SDV control processor, wherein the control processor competence level describes a competence level of the SDV control processor in controlling the SDV while the SDV experiences the current operational anomaly;
• third program instructions to receive a driver profile of the human driver of the SDV, wherein the driver profile describes a human driver competence level of the human driver in controlling the SDV while the SDV experiences the current operational anomaly;
• fourth program instructions to compare the control processor competence level to the human driver competence level;
• and
• fifth program instructions to selectively assign control of the SDV to the SDV control processor or to the human driver while the SDV experiences the current operational anomaly based on which of the control processor competence level and the human driver competence level is relatively higher to one another;
• and wherein
• the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth program instructions are stored on the non-transitory computer readable storage medium for execution by one or more processors via the computer readable memory.