Vehicle Control Apparatus, Vehicle Control Method, and Vehicle Control System

A vehicle control method for controlling operations of a steering apparatus and a braking/driving apparatus to assist driving of a vehicle by an occupant on the vehicle, the vehicle including the steering apparatus configured to steer the vehicle and the braking/driving apparatus configured to brake/drive the vehicle, the vehicle control method comprising:

• receiving a single assistance request signal for requesting the assistance in the driving from the occupant,
• transitioning to an operation mode of assisting the driving by the occupant in response to the single assistance request signal, and
• in the operation mode,
• receiving perceived information acquired from an external world perception portion configured to perceive a situation of an external world around the vehicle,
• determining a situation of a running road lying ahead of the vehicle based on the perceived information,
• determining a steering instruction for steering the vehicle based on the situation of the running road,
• determining a braking/driving instruction for braking/driving the vehicle based on the situation of the running road, and
• outputting the steering instruction toward the steering apparatus and outputting the braking/driving instruction toward the braking/driving apparatus.

A vehicle control system comprising:

• an external world perception portion configured to perceive a situation of an external world around a vehicle;
• a steering apparatus configured to steer the vehicle;
• a braking/driving apparatus configured to brake/drive the vehicle;
• and
• a control unit configured to control operations of the steering apparatus and the braking/driving apparatus to assist driving of the vehicle by an occupant,
• wherein the control unit receives a single assistance request signal for requesting the assistance in the driving from the occupant,
• transitions to an operation mode of assisting the driving by the occupant in response to the single assistance request signal, and
• in the operation mode,
• receives perceived information acquired from the external world perception portion configured to perceive the situation of the external world around the vehicle,
• determines a situation of a running road lying ahead of the vehicle based on the perceived information,
• determines a steering instruction for steering the vehicle based on the situation of the running road,
• determines a braking/driving instruction for braking/driving the vehicle based on the situation of the running road, and
• outputs the steering instruction toward the steering apparatus and outputs the braking/driving instruction toward the braking/driving apparatus.