Embodiments relate to
hazard detection in autonomous and semi-autonomous systems and applications. A
transformer may use sampled image and
LiDAR features to extract and decode a representation of whether there is a
hazard at the 3D location corresponding to each initial
transformer query, the shape of the
hazard, and / or its class. These detections may be provided to one or more control components of an autonomous vehicle, which may use the detections to navigate, plan, or otherwise perform one or more operations (e.g.,
obstacle avoidance, lane keeping, lane changing, merging, splitting, etc.). Some embodiments employ an automated approach to derive
ground truth data from sensor data collected by data collection vehicle(s), such as data representing detected static scene points, navigable space boundaries, or detected hazard objects. Accordingly, hazards such as
road debris and other obstacles may be detected and
ground truth data may be generated for a variety of sensing tasks.