LEADING VEHICLE SELECTION ASSISTANCE DEVICE, TRAVEL PLAN CREATION DEVICE, LEADING VEHICLE SELECTION ASSISTANCE METHOD, AND TRAVEL PLAN CREATION METHOD

摘要

In a leading vehicle selection assistance device 10, a host-vehicle information acquisition unit 11 acquires host-vehicle information including information making it possible to specify the current position and planned travel route of the host vehicle. An other-vehicle information acquisition unit 12 acquires other-vehicle information including information making it possible to specify the current position, speed, and planned travel route of another vehicle that is a leading vehicle candidate. A catch-up cost calculation unit 13 calculates, on the basis of the host-vehicle information and other-vehicle information, a catch-up cost expressing the size of the driver burden until the host vehicle catches up with the other vehicle. If there are a plurality of leading vehicle candidates, a leading vehicle determination unit 15 narrows the number of leading vehicle candidates to one or a few vehicles having relatively small catch-up costs.