Patent ID: 8219289

Claim:
A vehicle control apparatus for a vehicle that includes a brake mechanism, which produces a braking force through actuation of a first actuator, and a shift mechanism, which changes a shift position of a transmission through actuation of a second actuator, the vehicle control apparatus comprising: a controller that controls the electric power supplied to the first actuator based on electric signals that indicate the state of a brake operation member that a driver of the vehicle operates to control the brake mechanism and to the second actuator based on electric signals that indicate the state of a shift operation member that driver operates to control the shift mechanism; a first electric power supply unit that is designed to supply electric power to the controller and to the first and second actuators; a second electric power supply unit that is designed and controlled to supply electric power to at least one of the first actuator and the second actuator in case of insufficient supply through said first electric power supply unit; and a third electric power supply unit that is designed and controlled to supply electric power to the second actuator in case of insufficient supply through at least one of said first and said second electric power supply units, wherein each of the electric power supply units is rechargeable, the controller includes an actuator control unit that controls the electric power supplied to the second actuator for maintaining the stationary state of the vehicle from at least one of the second electric power supply unit and the third electric power supply unit when a control condition that the second actuator is not able to operate using the electric power supplied from the first electric power supply unit is satisfied, the third electric power supply unit includes an electric power source and a relay, provided on an electric power line between the electric power source and the second actuator, and the controller further includes a relay control unit that controls the relay based on the electric power supplied from the first electric power supply unit and the electric power supplied from the second electric power supply unit, the relay control unit energizing the relay when the second actuator is not able to operate using the electric power supplied from the first electric power supply unit, and the vehicle control apparatus further comprises: a first vehicle speed determining portion that determines the speed of the vehicle; and a first voltage determining portion that determines the voltage supplied from the second electric power supply unit, wherein the relay control unit also energizes the relay when at least one of the speed determined by the first vehicle speed determining portion falls below a first predetermined speed and the voltage determined by the first voltage determining portion falls below a predetermined voltage.