AUTOMATED LANE CHANGE CONTROL METHOD AND AUTOMATED LANE CHANGE CONTROL DEVICE

An automated lane change control detects a preceding vehicle that is traveling in a same travel lane as a host vehicle, determines whether a predetermined condition is satisfied between the host vehicle and the preceding vehicle, and executes an automated lane change in the host vehicle after a first predetermined time has elapsed from determining that the predetermined condition is satisfied. The automated lane change of the host vehicle is executed after a first predetermined time has elapsed after determining that the predetermined condition has been satisfied. A second predetermined time is set that is longer than the first predetermined time as a time for prohibiting the automated lane change upon assessing the presents of a previous driver lane change. The automated lane change is prohibited in an interval that starts when a prohibiting condition is satisfied and ends when the second predetermined time elapses.