Aerial drone for correcting erratic driving of a vehicle

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving, by one or more processors and from at least one sensor associated with a vehicle, sensor readings indicating that the vehicle is being operated by a driver in an erratic manner;

computing, by one or more processors, a risk R associated with the driver operating the vehicle in the erratic manner;

determining, by one or more processors, whether the risk R is above a predefined threshold T;

in response to determining that the risk R is above the predefined threshold T, deploying, by one or more processors, an aerial drone to a current location of the vehicle; and

transmitting, by one or more processors, instructions to the aerial drone to perform an action that causes an amelioration of the erratic manner in which the vehicle is being driven.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one sensor is a video camera, wherein the sensor readings are a video feed from the video camera, and wherein the computer-implemented method further comprises:

performing, by one or more processors, a video analysis of the video feed to determine that the vehicle is moving in the erratic manner.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one sensor is an accelerometer on the vehicle, wherein the sensor readings are accelerometer readings from the accelerometer that describe real-time motion of the vehicle, and wherein the computer-implemented method further comprises:

performing, by one or more processors, an analysis of the accelerometer readings to determine that the vehicle is being operated by the driver in the erratic manner.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the risk R is computed based on a degree of erratic driving of the vehicle detected by the at least one sensor associated with the vehicle.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the risk R is computed based on one or more factors from a group of factors consisting of real-time weather conditions at a current location of the vehicle, real-time road conditions at the current location of the vehicle, a time of day at the current location of the vehicle, and real-time traffic conditions at the current location of the vehicle.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the risk R is computed based on predicted traffic conditions at a future location of the vehicle.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the aerial drone is docked within a predetermined distance of a current location of the vehicle.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the action that ameliorates the erratic manner in which the vehicle is being driven is a flashing of a message from a display on the aerial drone.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving, by one or more processors, a vibration sensor signal from a vibration sensor on the vehicle indicating that the vehicle is traveling over ingrained warning dents on a roadway on which the vehicle is traveling for longer than a predefined length of time; and

in response to receiving the vibration sensor signal from the vibration sensor on the vehicle indicating that the vehicle is traveling over ingrained warning dents on the roadway on which the vehicle is traveling for longer than the predefined length of time, deploying, by one or more processors, the aerial drone to the current location of the vehicle.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the action that causes the amelioration of the erratic manner in which the vehicle is being driven is a broadcast via a speaker on the aerial drone of a rumbling sound that simulates a sound caused by an interaction between tires on the vehicle and ingrained warning dents on a roadway on which the vehicle is traveling.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the action that causes the amelioration of the erratic manner in which the vehicle is being driven is a transmission of a radio message to the driver, wherein the radio message causes a radio on the vehicle to generate a verbal instruction to the driver to alter how the vehicle is being driven.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the action that causes the amelioration of the erratic manner in which the vehicle is being driven is a transmission of a radio message to the driver, wherein the radio message causes a radio on the vehicle to emit a sound of a predetermined frequency/volume that will capture the attention of the driver.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one sensor is a video camera, wherein the sensor readings are a video feed from the video camera, and wherein the computer-implemented method further comprises:

performing, by one or more processors, a video analysis of the video feed to determine that the driver is in a physical position that indicates a lack of control of the vehicle; and

determining, by one or more processors, that the erratic manner in which the vehicle is being driven is due to the lack of control of the vehicle being demonstrated by the driver.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one sensor is a biometric sensor, wherein the biometric sensor generates biometric sensor readings for the driver in real time, and wherein the computer-implemented method further comprises:

performing, by one or more processors, an analysis of the biometric sensor readings to determine that the driver is in a physiological condition that indicates a lack of ability by the driver to control the vehicle; and

determining, by one or more processors, that the erratic manner in which the vehicle is being driven is due to the lack of ability by the driver to control the vehicle.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the vehicle is a first vehicle, wherein the driver is a first driver, and wherein the computer-implemented further comprises:

assigning, by one or more processors, the first driver of the first vehicle to a cohort of other drivers that share a set of common traits with the first driver, wherein the other drivers historically have driven other vehicles;

identifying, by one or more processors, prior historical actions that aerial drones have performed to cause an amelioration of erratic movements of the other vehicles that were driven by the other drivers; and

transmitting, by one or more processors, instructions to the aerial drone to perform one or more of the prior historical actions.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining, by one or more processors, that the erratic manner in which the vehicle is being driven is being caused by a software error in a control system for the vehicle; and

in response to determining that the erratic manner in which the vehicle is being driven is being caused by the software error in the control system for the vehicle, transmitting, by one or more processors, instructions to the vehicle to correct the software error.

17. A computer program product for an aerial drone to ameliorate an erratic manner in which a vehicle is being driven, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage device having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions readable and executable by a computer to computer to perform a method comprising:

receiving, from at least one sensor associated with a vehicle, sensor readings indicating that the vehicle is being operated by a driver in an erratic manner;

computing a risk R associated with the driver operating the vehicle in the erratic manner;

determining, by one or more processors, whether the risk R is above a predefined threshold T;

in response to determining that the risk R is above the predefined threshold T, deploying an aerial drone to a current location of the vehicle; and

transmitting instructions to the aerial drone to perform an action that causes an amelioration of the erratic manner in which the vehicle is being driven.

18. The computer program product of claim 17 , wherein the method further comprises:

assigning the driver of the vehicle to a cohort of other drivers that share a set of common traits with the driver, wherein the other drivers historically have driven other vehicles;

identifying prior historical actions that aerial drones have performed to cause an amelioration of erratic movements of the other vehicles that were driven by the other drivers; and

transmitting instructions to the aerial drone to perform one or more of the prior historical actions.

19. The computer program product of claim 17 , wherein the program instructions are provided as a service in a cloud environment.

20. A computer system comprising one or more processors, one or more computer readable memories, and one or more computer readable storage mediums, and program instructions stored on at least one of the one or more storage mediums for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more memories, the stored program instructions comprising:

program instructions to receive, from at least one sensor associated with a vehicle, sensor readings indicating that the vehicle is being operated by a driver in an erratic manner;

program instructions to compute a risk R associated with the driver operating the vehicle in the erratic manner;

program instructions to determine whether the risk R is above a predefined threshold T;

program instructions to, in response to determining that the risk R is above the predefined threshold T, deploy an aerial drone to a current location of the vehicle; and

program instructions to transmit instructions to the aerial drone to perform an action that causes an amelioration of the erratic manner in which the vehicle is being driven.