An autonomous vehicle (AV) perception system and method of determining an autonomous vehicle (AV) action for a host vehicle. The method includes: obtaining onboard vehicle sensor data from at least one onboard vehicle sensor, the onboard vehicle sensor is a part of vehicle electronics of the host vehicle; obtaining edge sensor data from at least one edge sensor, the edge sensor is a part of an edge layer; generating a unified perception output based on the onboard vehicle sensor data and the edge sensor data; determining an AV action for the host vehicle based on the unified perception output; and providing the AV action to the host vehicle, wherein the host vehicle is configured to carry out the AV action.