US Patent 11685438 Vehicle control apparatus and vehicle

A vehicle control apparatus is provided. The apparatus comprises a sensor to detect a steering torque applied to a steering shaft that rotates in accordance with a steering wheel operation; a steering assistance unit configured to assist steering by a lane keeping assistance function; a correcting unit configured to obtain a corrected torque by removing a torque caused due to the steering assistance unit from the steering torque detected by the sensor; and a determining unit configured to determine whether or not a driver is in a hands-off state based on the corrected torque.