Vehicle with inter-vehicular distance acceleration control

A vehicle having a wheelchair-type structure that is used in an environment where people move and that automatically travels while following a preceding vehicle and keeping an inter-vehicle distance at a predetermined inter-vehicle distance, the vehicle comprising:

• a detector that detects a moving body present in a first area around the vehicle, the first area being located outside of a second area between the preceding vehicle and the vehicle;
• and
• a controller that determines, from among at least one of a plurality of the moving bodies detected by the detector, an entering moving body that possibly enters the second area, and accelerates or decelerates the vehicle based on a distance between the determined entering moving body and the second area,
• wherein the predetermined inter-vehicle distance corresponds to the longitudinal length of the second area, and
• wherein the controller accelerates, when the distance between the determined entering moving body and the second area is equal to or greater than a first threshold value, the vehicle such that the inter-vehicle distance becomes a first inter-vehicle distance which is smaller than the predetermined inter-vehicle distance.