An electric wheelchair includes a body portion, an operating section to detect an operation by an operator, an obstacle sensor to detect an obstacle existing in the vicinity of the body portion, an obstacle determination section to form a search region extending from the body portion in an operating direction, and to determine an obstacle existing in the search region, as the obstacle to be avoided, a virtual repulsive force calculation section to calculate a virtual repulsive force to move the body portion away from the obstacle determined by the obstacle determination section, a resultant force calculation section to calculate a resultant force composed of an operating force and the virtual repulsive force, and a control section to control a movement of the body portion so that the body portion is moved in a direction of the resultant force.
