Patent ID: 8781707

Claim:
A vehicle control device comprising: a vehicle-to-vehicle communication unit that communicates with other vehicles; a vehicle detecting unit that detects other vehicles; and a traveling control unit that controls a traveling of a host vehicle based on an information acquired by the vehicle-to-vehicle communication unit and the vehicle detecting unit, wherein, when a system-provided vehicle which is the other vehicle including the vehicle control device, a general vehicle following the system-provided vehicle which is the other vehicle without including the vehicle control device, and the host vehicle following the general vehicle travel on a same lane of a road, the traveling control unit of the host vehicle estimates a number N of the general vehicles between the system-provided vehicle and the host vehicle based on any one of a distance headway L C between the system-provided vehicle and the host vehicle acquired by the vehicle-to-vehicle communication unit, a speed V P of the system-provided vehicle acquired by the vehicle-to-vehicle communication unit, a distance headway L R between the host vehicle and a general vehicle which is immediately in front of the host vehicle acquired by the vehicle detecting unit, a predicted time headway T pre between the general vehicles and a time headway between the general vehicles which travel in an adjacent lane of the host vehicle detected by vehicle detecting unit, wherein the traveling control unit of the host vehicle calculates a predicted distance headway L RL between the system-provided vehicle and the general vehicle which is immediately in front of the host vehicle according to the number N estimated, and wherein the traveling control unit of the host vehicle controls the traveling of the host vehicle such that a distance headway between the system-provided vehicle and the general vehicle which is immediately in front of the host vehicle is less than the predicted distance headway L RL .