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 (911-913) 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 (921-923) 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 (911-913) 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 (921-923) 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 (911-913) 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 (921-923) 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. <EOS>