VEHICLE CONTROL DEVICE AND METHOD

A vehicle control device includes: a gear changing part having a parking brake holding the vehicle in a stationary state, a driving gear that maintains driving the vehicle, and a parking gear that holds a parked state; a control switch disposed in the gear changing part and able to perform actuation of the parking brake and the parking gear simultaneously through an operation of pressing the control switch; a braking force holding part holding a braking force when the vehicle generates the braking force based on at least one of a driver operating a brake or operating the control switch; and a control part performing: when the control switch is pressed, performing a linked parking control so that the parking brake performs a linked actuation while the gear changing part is shifted to the parking gear. After the linked parking control ends, the holding of the braking force is released.