Vehicle control device, vehicle control method, and program for causing computer to implement vehicle control function

A vehicle control device for controlling platooning of platoon participating vehicles by connecting the platoon participating vehicles to one another via radio communication, the platoon participating vehicles including a lead vehicle and follow-up vehicles that perform automatic follow-up running in line at a predetermined intervehicle distance from the lead vehicle, comprising:

• a control portion that, during execution of the platooning, sets a permissible output range of a drive amount with a current gear ratio of an automatic transmission remaining kept, as a change characteristic of the drive amount in each of the platoon participating vehicles so that change of the drive amount in response to change of a drive demand amount lies within a predetermined range, the automatic transmission being included in each of the platoon participating vehicles to transmit power of a power source to driving wheels, wherein
• the control portion sets, as the change characteristic of the drive amount, an upper limit value of a change rate of the drive amount that is restricted when a drive device of each of the platoon participating vehicles switches from a driven state to a driving state.