Vehicle cruise control apparatus and method

A vehicle cruise control apparatus, comprising:

• a front camera configured to obtain a front image of a road in which a vehicle is driving;
• an inter-vehicle distance detector configured to measure an inter-vehicle distance between the vehicle and a preceding vehicle;
• a road information provider configured to provide road information on a road located in front of the vehicle;
• a display configured to display virtual information by projecting the virtual information on an information display region in front of a driver of the vehicle through augmented reality;
• and
• a controller communicatively connected to the front camera, the inter-vehicle distance detector, the road information provider, and the display, and configured to:
• determine whether the road located in front of the vehicle is a slope road or a curved road based on the road information provided by the road information provider while controlling driving of the vehicle according to the inter-vehicle distance measured by the inter-vehicle distance detector and a driving speed of the preceding vehicle,
• determine whether the preceding vehicle is present in the information display region using the front image obtained by the front camera when it is determined that the road located in front of the vehicle is a slope road or a curved road, and
• control the display to display a virtual preceding vehicle in the information display region when it is determined that the preceding vehicle is not present.