A drive control apparatus and method for an autonomous vehicle is provided. The drive control method includes: determining whether a subject vehicle has entered a pocket lane area during autonomous driving; determining whether the subject vehicle enters a pocket lane according to pocket lane conditions that are determined on the basis of surrounding environment information of the subject vehicle when the subject vehicle enters the pocket lane area; generating a tracking path with respect to a front vehicle when it is determined to enter the pocket lane; and performing the autonomous driving bycontrolling the subject vehicle to follow the front vehicle according to the tracking path with respect to the front vehicle.