In a vehicle control system, a control unit of the vehicle control system executes a stop process by which the vehicle is parked in a prescribed stop area when it is detected that the control unit or the driver has become incapable of properly maintaining a traveling state of the vehicle. In the stop process, the control unit determines a plurality of available stop areas according to the vehicle surroundings and map information, and computes, for each available stop area, a cumulative travel risk obtained by accumulating a travel risk involved in traveling from a position of the vehicle when the stop process is initiated to each available stop area and a stop risk in stopping in each available stop area, the control unit determining a final stop area by comparing the cumulative travel risk with the stop risk in each available stop area sequentially from the nearest one.