OCCUPANT DISEMBARKATION ASSIST APPARATUS, OCCUPANT DISEMBARKATION ASSIST METHOD, AND RECORDING MEDIUM

An occupant disembarkation assist apparatus is provided to assist an occupant in exiting from a vehicle. The occupant disembarkation assist apparatus includes a distance determiner, a predicted time calculator, a threshold setting unit, and an operation determiner. The distance determiner determines a distance between a moving object approaching the vehicle from behind and the vehicle. The predicted time calculator calculates a predicted arrival time required until the moving object reaches the vehicle. The operation determiner determines whether an occupant disembarkation assist operation is required to be initiated depending on whether the predicted arrival time becomes lower than or equal to a time threshold. The threshold setting unit sets the time threshold as a function of the distance derived by the distance determiner. This suppresses unnecessary activation of the occupant disembarkation assist operation more efficiently than in the related art.