Vehicle control apparatus and vehicle control method

A vehicle control apparatus that performs during-following control in which, when a direction indicator of an own vehicle is operated during traveling in which a preceding vehicle is followed, the own vehicle is accelerated in conjunction with the operation of the direction indicator, the vehicle control apparatus comprising:

• an adjacent vehicle selecting unit that selects, from other vehicles that are present ahead of the own vehicle, an adjacent vehicle that is traveling in an adjacent lane that is adjacent to a traveling lane of the own vehicle based on a lateral position that is a relative position relative to the own vehicle in a direction orthogonal to a travelling direction of the own vehicle and a relative distance to the own vehicle in the travelling direction of the own vehicle;
• and
• an acceleration control unit that performs acceleration of the own vehicle by the during-following control based on whether or not the adjacent vehicle is selected by the adjacent vehicle selecting unit when the direction indicator is operated during following-traveling.