US Patent 10889304 Vehicle control device, vehicle control method, and vehicle control program

A vehicle control device includes: an automatic driving control unit that executes a first driving mode in which at least one of acceleration/deceleration, and steering of a host vehicle is automatically controlled in order for the host vehicle to travel along a route up to a destination; and a specific situation transition control unit that encourages a vehicle occupant of the host vehicle to transition to a second driving mode in which the degree of automatic driving is lower in comparison to the first driving mode by decelerating the host vehicle in a case of terminating execution of the first driving mode at a scheduled termination point of the first driving mode.