Vehicle control system, vehicle control method, and storage medium

A vehicle control method that causes an in-vehicle computer to:

• support a driving of a vehicle by selectively operating in one driving support mode among a plurality of driving support modes including a low speed following travel mode in which the vehicle travels while maintaining a constant inter-vehicle distance between a preceding traveling vehicle that is present in front of the vehicle and the vehicle in a case where a speed of the vehicle is equal to or less than a predetermined speed, wherein the preceding traveling vehicle being a vehicle that is present within a predetermined distance from the vehicle,
• use a grip sensor provided in a steering wheel of the vehicle and configured to detect whether or not the steering wheel is being gripped by a driver of the vehicle, and
• release a use restriction on a specific function in which a line of sight of the driver is removed from surroundings of the vehicle due to its utilization by an occupant of the vehicle in a case where the low speed following travel mode is operative, and not release the use restriction on the specific function in a case where the vehicle is traveling by a travel mode different to the low speed following travel mode,
• wherein in a case where the grip sensor detects that the steering wheel is being gripped, the in-vehicle computer maintains the different travel mode, and wherein
• in a case that a condition for operating the low speed following travel mode is not satisfied when operating in the low speed following travel mode, conducting the use restriction on a specific function to display information indicating that the low speed following travel mode is ended and information for requesting the occupant to monitor a traffic situation of the surroundings in a display that is provided in a front of a seat occupied by the driver, wherein the display is presented in an instrument panel.

A non-transitory storage medium storing a program that causes an in-vehicle computer to:

• support a driving of a vehicle by selectively operating in one driving support mode among a plurality of driving support modes including a low speed following travel mode in which the vehicle travels while maintaining a constant inter-vehicle distance between a preceding traveling vehicle that is present in front of the vehicle and the vehicle in a case where a speed of the vehicle is equal to or less than a predetermined speed, wherein the preceding traveling vehicle being a vehicle that is present within a predetermined distance from the vehicle,
• use a grip sensor provided in a steering wheel of the vehicle and configured to detect whether or not the steering wheel is being gripped by a driver of the vehicle, and
• release a use restriction on a specific function in which a line of sight of the driver is removed from surroundings of the vehicle due to its utilization by an occupant of the vehicle in a case where the low speed following travel mode is operative, and not release the use restriction on the specific function in a case where the vehicle is traveling by a travel mode different to the low speed following travel mode,
• wherein in a case where the grip sensor detects that the steering wheel is being gripped, the in-vehicle computer maintains the different travel mode, and wherein
• in a case that a condition for operating the low speed following travel mode is not satisfied when operating in the low speed following travel mode, conducting the use restriction on a specific function to display information indicating that the low speed following travel mode is ended and information for requesting the occupant to monitor a traffic situation of the surroundings in a display that is provided in a front of a seat occupied by the driver, wherein the display is presented in an instrument panel.