Vehicle control apparatus

A vehicle control apparatus for controlling a self-driving vehicle with a self-driving capability including an engine, drive wheels, and a transmission installed in a power transmission path from the engine to the drive wheels, comprising:

• a surrounding circumstances detector configured to detect surrounding circumstances of the self-driving vehicle;
• an action plan generation unit configured to generate an action plan of the self-driving vehicle based on the surrounding circumstances detected by the surrounding circumstances detector;
• and
• a driving control unit configured to control the engine and the transmission so that the self-driving vehicle travels by self-driving in accordance with the action plan generated by the action plan generation unit, wherein
• the action plan generation unit is configured to generate a first action plan and a second action plan, the first action plan including target position data of the self-driving vehicle set every a unit time within a predetermined time period of a present time, the second action plan including an acceleration instruction from a vehicle speed of the self-driving vehicle at a present time to a target vehicle speed not including the target position data set every the unit time, and
• the driving control unit is configured to control the engine and the transmission, so that the self-driving vehicle travels in accordance with the target position data set every the unit time when the first action plan is generated by the action plan generation unit, while so that the self-driving vehicle accelerates to the target vehicle speed at a target torque when the second action plan is generated by the action plan generation unit, the target torque being set between a first characteristic curve representing a maximum torque relative to an engine speed and a second characteristic curve representing a torque corresponding to a minimum brake-specific fuel consumption relative to the engine speed and being set so as to minimize a fuel consumption quantity per a unit travel distance.

A vehicle control method for controlling a self-driving vehicle with a self-driving capability including an engine, drive wheels, and a transmission installed in a power transmission path from the engine to the drive wheels, comprising:

• detecting surrounding circumstances of the self-driving vehicle;
• generating an action plan of the self-driving vehicle based on the surrounding circumstances detected;
• and
• controlling the engine and the transmission so that the self-driving vehicle travels by self-driving in accordance with the action plan generated, wherein
• the generating includes generating a first action plan and a second action plan, the first action plan including target position data of the self-driving vehicle set every a unit time within a predetermined time period of a present time, the second action plan including an acceleration instruction from a vehicle speed of the self-driving vehicle at a present time to a target vehicle speed not including the target position data set every the unit time, and
• the controlling includes controlling the engine and the transmission, so that the self-driving vehicle travels in accordance with the target position data set every the unit time when the first action plan is generated, while so that the self-driving vehicle accelerates to the target vehicle speed at a target torque when the second action plan is generated, the target torque being set between a first characteristic curve representing a maximum torque relative to an engine speed and a second characteristic curve representing a torque corresponding to a minimum brake-specific fuel consumption relative to the engine speed and being set so as to minimize a fuel consumption quantity per a unit travel distance.