An apparatus for assisting driving of a host vehicle provides stable control of the host vehicle by using road conditions including intersections, crosswalks and the like, forward lane markings, and a preceding vehicle. The apparatus includes an image sensor to capture images of an area in front of the host vehicle, and a controller configured to recognize a road section having no lane markings on a drive path, or recognize forward lane markings. The controller performs lateral control of the host vehicle selectively based on the forward lane markings and the recognized preceding vehicle according to whether the road section having no lane markings is recognized.