DRIVING ASSISTANCE DEVICE, VEHICLE CONTROL SYSTEM, AND DRIVING ASSISTANCE METHOD

A driving assistance device mounted in a vehicle operates together with an automated driving control device for automatically controlling steering, acceleration, and deceleration of the vehicle in either of a first state in which a driver is not gripping a steering operation element and a second state in which the driver is gripping the steering operation element, the driving assistance device including a storage medium storing computer-readable instructions and at least one processor connected to the storage medium. The at least one processor makes an operation start condition of a second preliminary operation loose when the automated driving control device is operating in the second state as compared with when the automated driving control device is not operating.