Vehicular control apparatus and method for shift-by-wire device

A vehicular control apparatus for a shift-by-wire device, comprising:

• an operation section configured to be manually operable to select one of shift positions constituted by a vehicular parking position, a neutral position, and a traveling position;
• and
• a control section configured to control an actuator to modify at least one of the parking position, the neutral position, and the traveling position, the control section modifying the shift position to the vehicular parking position at which a movement of the vehicle is blocked through the actuator when a power switch configured to switch a vehicular power supply to at least one of an ON position and an OFF position is changed to the OFF position, the control section inhibiting the modification of the shift position to the vehicular parking position and modifying the shift position to the neutral position at which the vehicle is enabled to move when an operation pattern of the operation section while the power switch is in the ON position is coincident with the operation pattern prescribed as a cipher code which inhibits the modification of the shift position to the vehicular parking position, and the operation pattern prescribed as the cipher code being constituted by a combination of the operation patterns which would not be carried out in the operations of the operation section during an ordinary traveling.