Vehicle control device and vehicle control method

A vehicle control device comprising:

• an object determination unit configured to determine presence or absence of an object ahead of a vehicle in its traveling direction;
• a driving force control unit configured to, in the case where the presence of the object has been determined, raise a driving force command value in the vehicle in a stepwise manner such that the driving force command value does not exceed a request value determined based on a position of an accelerator of the vehicle designated by a driver until a speed of the vehicle reaches a predetermined speed, and lower the driving force command value after the speed of the vehicle reaches the predetermined speed;
• a slope calculation unit configured to calculate a slope of a road on which the vehicle runs;
• a state determination unit that determines whether the vehicle is in a stopped state despite the accelerator of the vehicle being on;
• and
• an increase rate changing unit configured to change an increase rate per time for raising the driving force command value based on the slope, wherein:
• in the case where the presence of the object has been determined, the driving force control unit raises the driving force command value gradually from an initial value until the speed of the vehicle reaches the predetermined speed, the initial value being smaller than the request value, and
• on condition that the state determination unit determines that the vehicle is in the stopped state and despite the accelerator of the vehicle being on, the increase rate changing unit is configured to change the increase rate by delaying a timing for raising the driving force command value from the initial value after driving force suppression is started.