Vehicle travel control apparatus

A vehicle travel control apparatus, comprising:

• an information acquisition device comprising a sensor configured to acquire vehicle peripheral information including object information on an object existing around an own vehicle;
• a vehicle controller configured to execute, based on the vehicle peripheral information, following-travel inter-vehicle-distance control of causing the own vehicle to follow a preceding vehicle traveling immediately ahead of the own vehicle while maintaining an inter-vehicle distance between the own vehicle and the preceding vehicle at a predetermined distance, and to execute automatic start control of causing the own vehicle to automatically start when the preceding vehicle starts after the own vehicle has been stopped by the following-travel inter-vehicle-distance control in response to stopping of the preceding vehicle;
• a notification device comprising at least one of a display or a speaker configured to issue to a driver a notification for inquiring whether the driver desires the automatic start control to be executed;
• and
• an operation device comprising a switch to be operated by the driver in order to perform a predetermined response operation in response to the notification,
• the vehicle controller being configured to set an operation mode of the automatic start control to any one of a first mode, in which the automatic start control is executed, and a second mode, in which the automatic start control is inhibited from being executed,
• the vehicle controller being further configured to, when the own vehicle has stopped in response to the stopping of the preceding vehicle during execution of the following-travel inter-vehicle-distance control and when the operation mode is set to the second mode:
• determine, based on the vehicle peripheral information, whether a current travel state of the own vehicle is a specific state, in which there is a probability that the driver desires the automatic start control to be executed;
• cause the notification device to issue the notification upon determination that the travel state is the specific state;
• set the operation mode to the first mode when the driver has performed the response operation;
• and
• maintain the operation mode in the second mode when the driver has not performed the response operation.