Patent ID: 8775061

Claim:
A vehicle control device comprising: traffic volume information acquisition means for acquiring traffic volume information in a predetermined section on a road where a vehicle travels; deceleration acquisition means for acquiring deceleration of a preceding vehicle in front of the vehicle in the predetermined section; determination means for determining whether or not a lane change is necessary based on the basis of the traffic volume information acquired by the traffic volume information acquisition means and the deceleration acquired by the deceleration acquisition means; and instruction means for (i) instructing the vehicle to change lane when the determination means determines that the deceleration is equal to or larger than a first predetermined value and a lane change is necessary and (ii) instructing the vehicle and a second vehicle behind the vehicle to change lane when the determination means determines that the deceleration is equal to or larger than a second predetermined value, which is larger than the first predetermined value, and a lane change is necessary.