Vehicle driving assistance apparatus, vehicle driving assistance method, and storage medium storing vehicle driving assistance program

A vehicle driving assistance method for executing an autonomous driving control of autonomously driving a host vehicle,

• wherein the autonomous driving control includes a steady driving control and an intermittent driving control,
• wherein the steady driving control is a control of driving the host vehicle by autonomously accelerating and decelerating the host vehicle such that, in a situation where a preceding vehicle does not exist, a traveling speed of the host vehicle is maintained at a predetermined speed, and in a situation where the preceding vehicle exists, an inter-vehicle distance between the host vehicle and the preceding vehicle is maintained at a predetermined distance,
• wherein the intermittent driving control is a control of driving the host vehicle by autonomously and alternately executing a propelling control of driving the host vehicle by a driving force and a coasting control of causing the host vehicle to coast such that, in a situation where the preceding vehicle does not exist, the traveling speed falls within a predetermined speed range, and by autonomously and alternately executing the propelling control and the coasting control such that, in a situation where the preceding vehicle exists, the inter-vehicle distance falls within a predetermined distance range, and
• wherein, when a first switching request, which is a request for switching the steady driving control to the intermittent driving control, is issued, the vehicle driving assistance method comprises a step of not executing at least one of the propelling control and the coasting control until a first time has elapsed from a time point when the first switching request is issued.

A computer-readable storage medium storing a vehicle driving assistance program for executing an autonomous driving control of autonomously driving a host vehicle,

• wherein the autonomous driving control includes a steady driving control and an intermittent driving control,
• wherein the steady driving control is a control of driving the host vehicle by autonomously accelerating and decelerating the host vehicle such that, in a situation where a preceding vehicle does not exist, a traveling speed of the host vehicle is maintained at a predetermined speed, and in a situation where the preceding vehicle exists, an inter-vehicle distance between the host vehicle and the preceding vehicle is maintained at a predetermined distance,
• wherein the intermittent driving control is a control of driving the host vehicle by autonomously and alternately executing a propelling control of driving the host vehicle by a driving force and a coasting control of causing the host vehicle to coast such that, in a situation where the preceding vehicle does not exist, the traveling speed falls within a predetermined speed range, and by autonomously and alternately executing the propelling control and the coasting control such that in a situation where the preceding vehicle exists, the inter-vehicle distance falls within a predetermined distance range, and
• wherein, when a first switching request, which is a request for switching the steady driving control to the intermittent driving control, is issued, the vehicle driving assistance program is configured not to execute at least one of the propelling control and the coasting control until a first time has elapsed from a time point when the first switching request is issued.