US Patent 10315653 Vehicle running control apparatus

A vehicle running control apparatus is provided with: a first detector configured to detect an inter-vehicle distance, and a speed of a self-vehicle or a relative speed; a second detector configured to detect accelerator-off and brake-off; a first calculator configured to calculate an approaching degree; a second calculator configured to calculate target deceleration corresponding to an engine brake amount on the basis of the approaching degree if the accelerator-off and the brake-off are detected; a controller configured to change the engine brake amount in accordance with the target deceleration; and a regulator configured to regulate or restrict a number of changes from an increase side to a reduction side of the engine brake amount, and a number of changes from the reduction side to the increase side, to be less than or equal to a predetermined number of times.