Vehicle control device, vehicle control method, and program

A vehicle control method causing a computer to perform:

• recognizing a surrounding situation of a vehicle including a front vehicle traveling in front of the vehicle and an object presenting near the front vehicle;
• controlling a speed and steering of the vehicle according to a result of the recognizing;
• causing the vehicle to follow the front vehicle;
• and
• causing the vehicle to stop following the front vehicle in response to determining that the front vehicle travels near the object at a first time and the object is in a first state at the first time, and a state of the object had changed from the first state to a second state different from the first state after the front vehicle passes the object at a second time after the first time in a case in which the vehicle is following the front vehicle,
• wherein the object is a regulation sign for regulating a part of a lane in which a vehicle is traveling, a regulation sign for regulating a lane, or a guiding sign for guiding a visual line of an occupant of the vehicle.

A vehicle control device comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a memory storing executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, facilitates performance of operations, comprising:
• recognizing a surrounding situation of a vehicle including a front vehicle traveling in front of the vehicle and an object presenting near the front vehicle,
• controlling a speed and steering of the vehicle according to a result of the recognizing,
• causing the vehicle to follow the front vehicle, and
• causing the vehicle to stop following the front vehicle in response to determining that a state of the object recognized in a traveling region through which the front vehicle has passed is different from a state of the object recognized in the traveling region immediately before the front vehicle has passed the object in a case in which the vehicle is following the front vehicle,
• wherein the object is a regulation sign for regulating a part of a lane in which a vehicle is traveling, a regulation sign for regulating a lane, or a guiding sign for guiding a visual line of an occupant of the vehicle.