VEHICLE CONTROL APPARATUS HAVING MULTIPLE ECUS LOADED WITH RESPECTIVE CONTROL PROGRAMS

A vehicle control apparatus has multiple electronic control units, A-ECU and B-ECU, connected via a communication line. Control programs of the apparatus is defined in an object-oriented type and loaded distributedly among multiple control units. The control programs of each control unit includes an application layer, an interface layer, a hardware-dependent virtual sensor part, a virtual actuator part, an input information converting part and output control part. The application layer is separated from hardware-dependent parts When an application layer of a B-ECU specifies a virtual actuator part and outputs driving information, an interface layer sends the driving information via the communication line to an interface layer of an A-ECU. The output control part of the A-ECU outputs that driving information at suitable timing to the virtual actuator part.