Vehicle control apparatus and program product

A program product for controlling a host vehicle traveling in a host lane and including a detection device for detecting an object located around the host vehicle, the program product comprising:

• a non-transitory storage medium;
• and
• computer-program instructions stored in the non-transitory storage medium,
• the computer-program instructions causing a processor to:
• acquire, from the detection device, detection information related to an external vehicle traveling in an adjacent lane that is adjacent to the host lane and has a same traffic direction as the host lane;
• determine, upon the external vehicle cutting in front of the host vehicle, whether a cut-in state of the external vehicle is a close-range cut-in state in accordance with the detection information related to the external vehicle, the close-range cut-in state being defined as a state in which an inter-vehicle distance between the host vehicle and the external vehicle is smaller than at least one close-range determination value;
• and
• control, in response to determination that the cut-in state of the external vehicle is the close-range cut-in state, deceleration of the host vehicle based on (i) the detection information related to the external vehicle and (ii) a continuation time during which the close-range determiner continuously determines that the cut-in state of the external vehicle is the close-range cut-in state.

A vehicle control method for a host vehicle traveling in a host lane and including a detection device for detecting an object located around the host vehicle, the vehicle control method comprising:

• acquiring, from the detection device, detection information related to an external vehicle traveling in an adjacent lane that is adjacent to the host lane and has a same traffic direction as the host lane;
• determining, upon the external vehicle cutting in front of the host vehicle, whether a cut-in state of the external vehicle is a close-range cut-in state in accordance with the detection information related to the external vehicle, the close-range cut-in state being defined as a state in which an inter-vehicle distance between the host vehicle and the external vehicle is smaller than at least one close-range determination value;
• and
• controlling, in response to determination that the cut-in state of the external vehicle is the close-range cut-in state, deceleration of the host vehicle based on (i) the detection information related to the external vehicle and (ii) a continuation time during which the close-range determiner continuously determines that the cut-in state of the external vehicle is the close-range cut-in state.