VEHICLE BEHAVIOR PREDICTION APPARATUS AND VEHICLE BEHAVIOR PREDICTION METHOD

A vehicle behavior prediction apparatus includes: a storage device that stores a plurality of pieces of behavior characteristic information associating a vehicle behavior with a characteristic of time series variation in travel condition information, the plurality of pieces of the behavior characteristic information being divided into a plurality of patterns corresponding to the different traffic conditions in a preceding location preceding a predetermined location; a selection unit that selects, as corresponding behavior characteristic information, the behavior characteristic information having a pattern corresponding to a current traffic condition from among the stored behavior characteristic information on the basis of the travel condition information obtained upon arrival of the vehicle in the preceding location; and a prediction unit that predicts the vehicle behavior in the predetermined location by comparing the corresponding behavior characteristic information with the time series variation in the currently obtained travel condition information.