CONTROL APPARATUS, CONTROL METHOD, AND COMPUTER PROGRAM

A control apparatus including: a unit configured to communicate with on-vehicle control devices via a communication line; a storage unit configured to store therein a reference table that defines whether each of the on-vehicle control devices is a permitted or unpermitted device; a monitoring unit configured to monitor whether there is a user operation that instructs start of an engine; and a determination unit configured to determine whether to permit start of the engine according to user operation, on the basis of the reference table and a state of update of a control program in the on-vehicle control device when user operation is detected. The permitted device is an on-vehicle control device for which start of the engine during update of the control program is permitted, and the unpermitted device is an on-vehicle control device for which start of the engine during update of the control program is not permitted.