CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2019-033501 filed on Feb. 27, 2019, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a vehicle control device that can automatically perform vehicle control of at least one of acceleration, deceleration, and steering regarding lane change of a host vehicle.

Description of the Related Art

A vehicle control device that performs vehicle control of acceleration, deceleration, and steering regarding lane change of a host vehicle partially or entirely on the basis of a control state that is set has been recently developed. Japanese Patent No. 5382218 discloses a device that, if a destination is set, generates a route where a host vehicle performs automated driving to the destination and, if the destination is not set, generates a route where the host vehicle follows a road.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An automated driving function or a driving assistance function required for a vehicle is different depending on vehicle occupants. For example, as for the lane change, some vehicle occupants want to decide the timing of the lane change by himself/herself and the other vehicle occupants want to leave it to the vehicle.

The present invention has been made in view of the above situation, and an object is to provide a vehicle control device that can perform lane change as a vehicle occupant likes.

A vehicle control device according to an aspect of the present invention includes: an automated driving instruction unit configured to give an instruction to start automated driving in accordance with a vehicle occupant's operation; a destination setting unit configured to set a destination in accordance with the vehicle occupant's operation; an automated driving control unit configured to automatically perform vehicle control of at least one of acceleration, deceleration, and steering regarding lane change of a host vehicle as the automated driving, and if the automated driving instruction unit gives the instruction to start the automated driving, cause the host vehicle to travel in the automated driving to the destination that is set by the destination setting unit; a notification unit configured to notify a vehicle occupant of information; and a control instruction unit configured to give an instruction to perform automated lane change control in which travel control required for movement from a travel lane to a target lane is automatically performed as lane change control performed in the lane change in accordance with the vehicle occupant's operation, wherein when the automated driving to the destination that is set by the destination setting unit is performed, if the instruction by the control instruction unit is given, the automated driving control unit is configured to perform the automated lane change control, and if the instruction is not given by the control instruction unit, the automated driving control unit is configured to perform lane change assistance control in which guidance of the lane change is provided to the vehicle occupant through the notification unit.

According to the present invention, the lane change can be performed as the vehicle occupant likes.

The above and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which a preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown by way of illustrative example.

