Abstract: An automatic travelling apparatus which is capable of finding a permissible travelling area ahead of a running vehicle by use of an image pick-up device attached to the vehicle, setting a target course in the determined permissible travelling area, estimating steering amount for permitting the vehicle to follow the target course and steering the vehicle with reference to the target steering amount, and also provides the possibility of estimating the maximum permissible steering angle at the present running speed from the characteristic data such as the maximum permissible lateral load and maximum permissible yaw rate etc., and limiting the target steering amount not to exceed the maximum steering amount.