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

A vehicle control device is configured to control a vehicle equipped with (i) an optical sensor configured to acquire a reflected light image by sensing reflected light of irradiated light and (ii) a sensing camera configured to acquire a camera image according to intensity of outside light in a sensing area which overlaps with a sensing area of the optical sensor. The vehicle control device includes an extraction unit configured to extract an unmatched pixel group by comparing the reflected light image with the camera image, and a control unit configured to instruct the vehicle to control according to a water-related substance estimated to correspond to the unmatched pixel group.