Travel control device and method for vehicles

A travel control device for vehicles, which causes unmanned vehicles, which are provided with travel controller for causing the vehicle to travel along an instructed traveling course, to travel toward each other from opposite directions on a traveling road having adjacent outward/return lanes, the travel control device comprising:

• a monitor station for creating a restricted area that surrounds one of the manned vehicles on either one of the outward/return lanes, on the basis of positional information of the manned vehicle;
• said monitor station creating, on the basis of the restricted area, a detour course which avoids the restricted area, passes the opposite lane, and returns to the original lane of the manned vehicle;
• said monitor station providing each of the vehicles with information on the detour course;
• and
• said monitor station providing under the condition that an authorization command for authorizing traveling the detour course is received from the manned vehicle present in the restricted area;
• a travel permission command for permitting the unmanned vehicle, which travels a lane on a restricted area side while blocking the vehicle on a lane which is the opposite side of the restricted area, to travel the detour course, on the basis of the positional information of the vehicles traveling toward each other from the opposite directions with the restricted area therebetween,
• wherein the travel controller of the unmanned vehicle provided with the travel permission command performs control so as to cause the vehicle to travel along the detour course in accordance with data of the instructed detour course.