Patent attributes
An environment information acquisition unit acquires an image in which environment around a vehicle has been imaged, information indicating a contact with the vehicle or an impact on the vehicle, surround sounds, approach identification information for enabling an approach of an emergency vehicle to be identified, and the like as surrounding environment information of the vehicle. A vehicle control processing unit recognizes predetermined external stimulation information included in the surrounding environment information, for example, a specific signal or a movement with a specific pattern, a contact to a specific part, and a specific sound. The vehicle control processing unit uses the recognized predetermined external stimulation information as a vehicle brake instruction from outside and starts a vehicle braking sequence to stop the vehicle. Even if an abnormality occurs in an automatically driven vehicle and the like, vehicle brake control is easily applied to a traveling vehicle from outside.