A driving assistance control section of a vehicle control apparatus has an operation state of a driver's vehicle transition from a stop state to a start-stand-by state keeping a second assistance state, if an accelerating operation larger than a predetermined first threshold acceleration is performed and there is an ahead-located vehicle, and has the driving assistance state transition from the second assistance state to a first assistance state and has the operation state transition from the stop state to the start-stand-by state if an accelerating operation larger than a predetermined second threshold acceleration is performed over a longer time than a predetermined threshold duration and there is an ahead-located vehicle, if follow-up running control is being performed in the second assistance state in which it is not necessary for a driver to hold a steering wheel to continue to have a driving assistance function performed.