VEHICLE CONTROL APPARATUS, VEHICLE CONTROL METHOD, AND VEHICLE CONTROL PROGRAM

A vehicle control apparatus includes a detecting unit configured to detect a nearby vehicle that travels near a host vehicle; an estimating unit configured to estimate a positional change of the nearby vehicle detected by the detecting unit; and a period deriving unit configured to derive a lane changeable period during which lane change is possible to a lane change target position set as a relative position with respect to the nearby vehicle that travels in an adjacent lane that is adjacent to a host vehicle lane on the basis of a positional change of the nearby vehicle estimated by the estimating unit.