Fuel-saving drive recommendation system and fuel-saving drive recommendation method

A fuel-saving drive recommendation system adapted to a vehicle that includes a step-gear automatic transmission of which a gear is shifted in response to a gear instruction signal and an internal combustion engine on which output control is performed on the basis of a required driving force that is calculated on the basis of an amount by which an output operating component is operated by a driver and a variable gear of the automatic transmission, the fuel-saving drive recommendation system comprising:

• a required driving force calculation unit that calculates, as the required driving force, an output control required driving force for performing output control on the engine and a determination required driving force for determining whether the vehicle is in a fuel-saving drive state, wherein the required driving force calculation unit uses the gear instruction signal as a parameter that indicates the gear when the output control required driving force is calculated, and uses a determination gear signal different from the gear instruction signal when the determination required driving force is calculated;
• a signal change unit that changes the determination gear signal so as to coincide with the gear instruction signal that has been changed;
• a determination unit that determines whether a running state of the vehicle is a fuel-saving drive state on the basis of the determination required driving force;
• and
• a notification unit that notifies a result of the determination.