Vehicle control apparatus

A vehicle control apparatus comprising:

• an accelerator-manipulated-amount detecting section configured to detect a manipulated amount of accelerator by a driver;
• a braking-force generating section configured to generate a braking force of the vehicle;
• a driving-force generating section configured to generate a driving force of the vehicle;
• a control unit including a vehicle-body speed calculating section configured to calculate an actual vehicle-body speed of the vehicle, the control unit being configured
• to perform a normal control mode which generates a driving force corresponding to the manipulated amount of accelerator, and
• to perform a speed control mode which calculates a target vehicle-body speed based on the manipulated amount of accelerator and which controls the braking-force generating section and the driving-force generating section so as to bring the actual vehicle-body speed closer to the target vehicle-body speed;
• a selecting switch configured to select between the normal control mode and the speed control mode, wherein the control unit is configured to control the vehicle by one selected between the normal control mode and the speed control mode by the selecting switch;
• and
• wherein the vehicle control apparatus further comprises a road-surface friction coefficient detecting section configured to detect a friction coefficient of road surface on which the vehicle is running;
• and
• wherein the control unit is configured to set a control gain for generating the braking/driving force at a larger value in a case where the detected road-surface friction coefficient is higher than a predetermined value, as compared with a case where the detected road-surface friction coefficient is lower than the predetermined value.

A vehicle control method comprising:

• providing a selecting switch configured to select between a normal control mode and a speed control mode;
• detecting an accelerator manipulated amount of an accelerator that is manipulated by a driver;
• calculating a variation amount of accelerator manipulation per unit time on the basis of the accelerator manipulated amount;
• setting a target vehicle-body speed on the basis of an acceleration/deceleration value corresponding to the variation amount of accelerator manipulation;
• and
• controlling a braking/driving force of a vehicle so as to achieve the set target vehicle-body speed, when the driver is selecting the speed control mode.