Travel control apparatus and travel control method

A travel control apparatus that controls travel of a vehicle in a control state of one of a manual travel control state for controlling the travel of the vehicle based on a driving operation by a driver and an automatic travel control state for detecting a condition around the vehicle and controlling the travel of the vehicle based on a detected condition, the travel control apparatus comprising:

• a travel control unit that controls the travel of the vehicle in the control state of one of the manual travel control state and the automatic travel control state in accordance with a selection by the driver;
• a concentration disturbing matter detection unit that detects an occurrence of a predetermined concentration disturbing matter set as a matter which disturbs a concentration of the driver with respect to the driving operation;
• and
• a control state switching unit that switches the control state from the manual travel control state to the automatic travel control state in response to the occurrence of the concentration disturbing matter being detected while the control state is the manual travel control state, wherein:
• in response to the concentration disturbing matter not being detected or an elapsed time from when the control state is switched to the automatic travel control state reaching a predetermined threshold time after the occurrence of the concentration disturbing matter is detected, and the control state is switched from the manual travel control state to the automatic travel control state, the control state switching unit switches the control state from the automatic travel control state to the manual travel control state, and
• the concentration disturbing matter detection unit is configured to detect a plurality of learning target matters as a candidate of the concentration disturbing matter,
• the travel control apparatus further comprising:
• an influence degree evaluation unit that evaluates a degree of influence of each of the plurality of learning target matters on the driving operation by detecting the driving operation after an occurrence of a corresponding learning target matter in response to the concentration disturbing matter detection unit detecting the corresponding learning target matter, wherein:
• the influence degree evaluation unit sets one of the plurality of learning target matters as the concentration disturbing matter in response to the degree of influence of the one of the plurality of learning target matters being equal to or larger than a predetermined threshold degree;
• the influence degree evaluation unit acquires a reference driving operation which is stored corresponding to a current position of the vehicle;
• the travel control unit acquires an actual driving operation which has been actually performed by the driver after the occurrence of a learning target matter, and compares the driving operation with the reference driving operation;
• and
• for a state in which a deviation between the actual driving operation and the reference driving operation is larger than a predetermined deviation, the concentration disturbing matter detection unit determines that the learning target matter has an influence on the concentration of the driver on the driving operation.