METHOD FOR AUTOMATICALLY OPERATING VEHICLE AND AUTOMATIC CONTROL APPARATUS

An automated driving method for a vehicle includes: determining whether or not a traffic jam is detected ahead of a host vehicle by a distance equal to or more than a predetermined distance on a travel route of the host vehicle during travel by automated driving that brings a vehicle speed close to a target vehicle speed; and in a traffic-jam detection time when the traffic jam is detected, reducing the vehicle speed VSP to be lower than a target vehicle speed VSPt0 for the automated driving in a normal time other than the traffic-jam detection time.