A sensor unit to be utilized in an autonomous driving vehicle ADV, the sensor unit comprising: a sensor interface to be coupled to a plurality of sensors to be mounted on a plurality of locations of the ADV; a host interface to be coupled to a host system, wherein the host system is configured to perceive a driving environment surrounding the ADV based on sensor data obtained from the sensors and to plan a path to autonomously drive the ADV; and a time synchronization hub device to be coupled to the sensor interface, wherein the time synchronization hub device comprises one or more transmit TX timestamp generators coupled to a time source, wherein the TX timestamp generators are configured to generate TX timestamps based on a time obtained from the time source to provide the TX timestamps to one or more of the sensors indicating a time the sensors transmit sensor data to the host system via the host interface, and one or more receive RX timestamp generators coupled to the time source, wherein the RX timestamp generators are configured to generate RX timestamps based on the time obtained from the time source to append to a transmitted metadata including a TX timestamp or to append to a metadata of the transmitted sensor data indicating a time when sensor data is received from the sensors. a sensor interface to be coupled to a plurality of sensors to be mounted on a plurality of locations of the ADV; a host interface to be coupled to a host system, wherein the host system is configured to perceive a driving environment surrounding the ADV based on sensor data obtained from the sensors and to plan a path to autonomously drive the ADV; and a time synchronization hub device to be coupled to the sensor interface, wherein the time synchronization hub device comprises one or more transmit TX timestamp generators coupled to a time source, wherein the TX timestamp generators are configured to generate TX timestamps based on a time obtained from the time source to provide the TX timestamps to one or more of the sensors indicating a time the sensors transmit sensor data to the host system via the host interface, and one or more receive RX timestamp generators coupled to the time source, wherein the RX timestamp generators are configured to generate RX timestamps based on the time obtained from the time source to append to a transmitted metadata including a TX timestamp or to append to a metadata of the transmitted sensor data indicating a time when sensor data is received from the sensors. one or more transmit TX timestamp generators coupled to a time source, wherein the TX timestamp generators are configured to generate TX timestamps based on a time obtained from the time source to provide the TX timestamps to one or more of the sensors indicating a time the sensors transmit sensor data to the host system via the host interface, and one or more receive RX timestamp generators coupled to the time source, wherein the RX timestamp generators are configured to generate RX timestamps based on the time obtained from the time source to append to a transmitted metadata including a TX timestamp or to append to a metadata of the transmitted sensor data indicating a time when sensor data is received from the sensors.