Embodiments of the present disclosures disclose a method and a system to generate a path planning trajectory with a random lateral shift for an autonomous driving vehicle (ADV). In one embodiment, a system generates a reference line to navigate the ADV from a start location to a destination location. The system determines a lateral shift distance value to shift a lane center for the reference line. The system generates a shifted trajectory using the reference line based on the lateral shift distance value. The system controls the ADV based on the shifted trajectory to navigate the ADV.