Patent attributes
A vehicle control device is provided which is capable of properly satisfying an acceleration request from a driver even when the driver performs a step-on operation of an accelerator pedal in the implementation of an ACC mode. The vehicle control device is capable of: a front car follow-up travel mode, in which a driving force and a transmission ratio are controlled based on a first accelerator position (AP1) for an inter-vehicle distance to a preceding vehicle to be a target inter-vehicle distance; and an override mode, in which the driving force and the transmission ratio are controlled based on a second accelerator position (AP2) determined by an operation of an accelerator operator performed by a driver. Compared with a second transmission characteristic selected in the override mode, in a first transmission characteristic selected in the front car follow-up travel mode, a threshold of the accelerator position at which at least downshift of a transmission (TM) occurs is set to a higher value or an amount of change of the transmission ratio along with the downshift of the transmission (TM) is set to a lower value.
