VEHICLE CONTROL APPARATUS, VEHICLE, VEHICLE CONTROL METHOD, AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT

A control processor acquires information from an outdoor camera and, from the information, calculates a width W3L of a side strip between a left mark line DLLand a road end ERL. In the case where the width W3L is wider than a specified width, steering torque based on a first steering characteristic CH1 and steering torque based on a second steering characteristic CH2 are exerted. The steering torque based on the first steering characteristic CH1 is exerted in the case where a lateral end of a vehicle is located within a range from a left mark line outer end EDLLto a characteristic switching position P1, and the steering torque based on the second steering characteristic CH2 is exerted in the case where the lateral end of the vehicle is located within a range from the characteristic switching position P1 to the road end ERL. The characteristic switching position PI is set in accordance with the width W3L of the side strip between the left mark line DLLand the road end ERL.