The present invention provides an object recognition apparatus which, in a vehicle that detects an object present behind (including obliquely behind) the vehicle using a radio wave radar, is able to precisely recognize the position of the object present behind (including obliquely behind) the vehicle during traveling on a curve and a lane change, and a vehicle travel controller using the same. An object recognition apparatus is provided with: an image capturing unit which captures an image of an environment in front of a vehicle; a lane detection unit which detects a lane in front of the vehicle on the basis of the image captured by the image capturing unit; a lane position estimation unit which estimates the position of a lane behind the vehicle on the basis of the lane detected by the lane detection unit and the travel history of the vehicle; a rear object detection unit which detects an object present behind the vehicle; and a relative position calculation unit which calculates the relative position of the object detected by the rear object detection unit with respect to the position of the lane estimated by the lane position estimation unit.