TRAVELING CONTROL APPARATUS

A traveling control apparatus to be applied to a vehicle includes at least one processor that is configured to function as a driving assistance controller. In a case where a preceding vehicle traveling ahead of the vehicle changes from a pre-switching preceding vehicle to a post-switching preceding vehicle, the driving assistance controller is configured to set a control target point in such a way that an object to be tracked is switched stepwise from the pre-switching preceding vehicle to the post-switching preceding vehicle. The driving assistance controller is configured to cause steering control to be performed in such a way that the vehicle tracks the set control target point.