Mixed-mode driving of a vehicle having autonomous driving capabilities

Abstract

Among other things, a vehicle having autonomous driving capabilities is operated in a mixed driving mode.

1 . A method comprising:
 analyzing, using at least one processor, information about a vehicle or a user of the vehicle or a driving environment of the vehicle; and   transmitting, using the at least one processor, a command to the vehicle to transition from a first driving mode comprising one of (a) an autonomous driving mode, (b) a manual driving mode, or (c) another predefined driving mode, to a second driving mode comprising one of (a), (b), or (c),   wherein the first driving mode is different from the second driving mode.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein analyzing the information comprises analyzing a preference of one or more occupants for operation of the vehicle in one of the modes (a), (b), or (c). 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein analyzing the information comprises analyzing a physical condition of one or more occupants. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the physical condition comprises a condition requiring emergency medical care. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein analyzing the information comprises analyzing an identity of one or more occupants. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein analyzing the information comprises analyzing a license to manually drive the vehicle. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein analyzing the information comprises analyzing an impaired ability to manually drive. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein analyzing the information comprises analyzing a degree of danger associated with a driving environment of the vehicle. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving the information from a data source not on board the vehicle; and   transitioning from the first driving mode to the second driving mode based on the received information.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving profile information of an occupant for the vehicle; and   transitioning from the first driving mode to the second driving mode based on the profile information.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving the command from a remote operator to cause the vehicle to transition.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein analyzing the information comprises smoothing a speed of the vehicle across the first driving mode and the second driving mode. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein analyzing the information comprises evaluating a trajectory towards a goal position under the next driving mode. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein analyzing the information comprises evaluating authentication of the one or more occupants under the next driving mode. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein analyzing the information comprises inferring one or more intermediate driving modes between the first driving mode and the second driving mode. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein analyzing the information comprises using a probabilistic model to optimally determine the next driving mode. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first driving mode comprises the manual driving mode and the second driving mode comprises a paused driving mode or a disabled driving mode. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first driving mode comprises the autonomous driving mode and the second driving mode comprises a paused driving mode or a disabled driving mode. 
     
     
         19 . An apparatus comprising:
 one or more processors; and   a memory storage in data communication with the one or more processors, the memory storage storing instructions executable by the one or more processors and that upon such execution cause the one or more processors to perform operations of  claim 1 .   
     
     
         20 . A non-transitory computer storage medium encoded with a computer program, the computer program comprising instructions that when executed by data processing apparatus cause the data processing apparatus to perform operations of  claim 1 .