Vehicle control apparatus

A vehicle control apparatus for a vehicle provided with an object detection unit acquiring environmental information ahead of the vehicle, the vehicle control apparatus comprising:

• an object recognition unit that recognizes a plurality of objects ahead of the vehicle based on the environmental information, and calculates distances and relative speeds between respective objects and the vehicle;
• a trajectory estimation unit that estimates a trajectory of the vehicle and trajectories of the plurality of objects;
• a selected-object determination unit that determines a selected object selected from among target objects by calculating a predicted collision time between the vehicle and each target object, the target objects being determined to possibly collide with the vehicle based on the trajectory of the vehicle and the trajectories of the plurality of objects, the selected object having the shortest predicted collision time among those in the target objects;
• and
• a braking control unit that executes a first braking control to activate a brake of the vehicle when a high-overlap condition is satisfied and executes a second braking control including suppressing actuation of the brake when a low-overlap condition is satisfied, the high-overlap condition being that an amount of overlapping between the vehicle and the selected object in a width direction, with respect to the trajectory of the vehicle and trajectories of the plurality of objects, is within a first range, and the low-overlap condition being that an amount of overlapping between the vehicle and the selected object in a width direction, with respect to the trajectory of the vehicle and trajectories of the plurality of objects, is within a second range smaller than the first range,
• wherein
• the second braking control is configured to:
• i) determine an avoidance space where the vehicle is capable traveling adjacently to the selected object, thereby determining a transition of the avoidance space along the trajectory of the selected object, ii) determine whether another object exists in the avoidance space based on a trajectory of another object other than the selected object among trajectories of the plurality of objects and a result of transition of the avoidance space and iii) actuate the brake when a braking condition including that another object exists in the avoidance space is satisfied and iv) suppress actuation of the brake when an avoidance condition including that another object does not exist in the avoidance space is satisfied.