Vehicle control apparatus, vehicle, and vehicle control method

A vehicle control apparatus that controls a vehicle having a plurality of driving modes, the vehicle control apparatus comprising one or more processors that execute computer-executable instructions stored in a memory,

• wherein the one or more processors execute the computer-executable instructions to cause the vehicle control apparatus to:
• acquire vicinity information of the vehicle;
• perform travel control of the vehicle based on the vicinity information;
• determine a deceleration limit value, which is a limit value for deceleration when the travel control is performed, according to the driving mode;
• perform braking control based on the vicinity information, in a manner that the vehicle decelerates with a deceleration that does not exceed the determined deceleration limit value;
• and
• set the deceleration limit value to a first limit value when the vehicle is driven in a first driving mode among the plurality of driving modes, and set the deceleration limit value to a second limit value, which is higher than the first limit value, when the vehicle is driven in a second driving mode that has a higher degree of automation than the first driving mode,
• wherein when the deceleration of the vehicle exceeds the deceleration limit value, the one or more processors cause the vehicle control apparatus to perform control to issue a driving switch request to a driver of the vehicle.

A vehicle control method for controlling a vehicle that has a plurality of driving modes, comprising:

• performing travel control of the vehicle based on vicinity information;
• determining a deceleration limit value, which is a limit value for deceleration when the travel control is performed, according to the driving mode;
• performing braking control based on the vicinity information, in a manner that the vehicle decelerates with a deceleration that does not exceed the determined deceleration limit value;
• and
• when determining the deceleration limit value, setting the deceleration limit value to a first limit value when the vehicle is driven in a first driving mode among the plurality of driving modes, and setting the deceleration limit value to a second limit value, which is higher than the first limit value, when the vehicle is driven in a second driving mode that has a higher degree of automation than the first driving mode,
• wherein when the deceleration of the vehicle exceeds the deceleration limit value, the method further comprises issuing a warning to a driver of the vehicle, and
• wherein when the deceleration of the vehicle starts to drop after having exceeded the deceleration velocity limit, or when the deceleration of the vehicle becomes less than the deceleration limit value after having exceeded the deceleration limit value, the method further comprises stopping the warning and issuing a driving switch request to the driver.