diff --git a/cartographer/common/time.cc b/cartographer/common/time.cc
index 8c2882d..b94d340 100644
--- a/cartographer/common/time.cc
+++ b/cartographer/common/time.cc
@@ -16,8 +16,13 @@
 
 #include "cartographer/common/time.h"
 
+#include <time.h>
+#include <cerrno>
+#include <cstring>
 #include <string>
 
+#include "glog/logging.h"
+
 namespace cartographer {
 namespace common {
 
@@ -50,5 +55,12 @@ common::Duration FromMilliseconds(const int64 milliseconds) {
       std::chrono::milliseconds(milliseconds));
 }
 
+double GetThreadCpuTimeSeconds() {
+  struct timespec thread_cpu_time;
+  CHECK(clock_gettime(CLOCK_THREAD_CPUTIME_ID, &thread_cpu_time) == 0)
+      << std::strerror(errno);
+  return thread_cpu_time.tv_sec + 1e-9 * thread_cpu_time.tv_nsec;
+}
+
 }  // namespace common
 }  // namespace cartographer
diff --git a/cartographer/common/time.h b/cartographer/common/time.h
index 7fffcb9..39ffe71 100644
--- a/cartographer/common/time.h
+++ b/cartographer/common/time.h
@@ -60,6 +60,9 @@ int64 ToUniversal(Time time);
 // For logging and unit tests, outputs the timestamp integer.
 std::ostream& operator<<(std::ostream& os, Time time);
 
+// CPU time consumed by the thread so far, in seconds.
+double GetThreadCpuTimeSeconds();
+
 }  // namespace common
 }  // namespace cartographer