Vehicle control device, vehicle control system, vehicle learning device, and vehicle learning method

A vehicle control device, comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• memory, wherein
• the memory stores relation-defining data for defining a relation between a state of a vehicle and an action variable that is a variable relating to operations of a transmission installed in the vehicle,
• the processor is configured to execute
• acquisition processing of acquiring the state of the vehicle based on a detection value of a sensor,
• operation processing of operating the transmission based on a value of the action variable decided by the state of the vehicle acquired in the acquisition processing and the relation-defining data,
• reward calculation processing of giving a greater reward when characteristics of the vehicle satisfy a reference than when not satisfying the reference, based on the state of the vehicle acquired in the acquisition processing,
• updating processing of updating the relation-defining data, with the state of the vehicle acquired in the acquisition processing, the value of the action variable used in operation of the transmission, and the reward corresponding to the operation, as input to an updating map set in advance,
• counting processing of counting an update count by the updating processing, and
• limiting processing of limiting, toward being reduced, a range employed by the operation processing in which a value other than a value that maximizes an expected income regarding the reward, out of values of the action variable that the relation-defining data indicates, when the update count is great as compared to when small,
• the processor is configured to output the relation-defining data updated so that the expected income is increased when the transmission is operated following the relation-defining data, based on the updating map, and
• the limiting processing includes processing of limiting an update amount in the updating processing toward being reduced when the update count is great, as compared to when small.