In one embodiment, during a planning stage of autonomous driving of an autonomous driving vehicle (ADV), it is determined that the ADV needs to change lanes from a source lane to a target lane. A first trajectory is generated from a current location of the ADV in the source lane to the target lane such as a center line of the target lane. A lane shifting correction is then calculated based on the lane configuration of at least the source lane and/or target lane, as well as the current state of the ADV. Based on the lane shifting correction, at least the starting point of the first trajectory is modified, which in turn generates a second trajectory. In one embodiment, the starting point of the first trajectory is shifted laterally with respect to a heading direction of the source lane based on the lane shifting correction.