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Revisiting cross-domain problem for LiDAR-based 3D object detection

Revisiting cross-domain problem for LiDAR-based 3D object detection
Revisiting cross-domain problem for LiDAR-based 3D object detection

Deep learning models such as convolutional neural networks and transformers have been widely applied to solve 3D object detection problems in the domain of autonomous driving. While existing models have achieved outstanding performance on most open benchmarks, the generalization ability of these deep networks is still in doubt. To adapt models to other domains including different cities, countries, and weather, retraining with the target domain data is currently necessary, which hinders the wide application of autonomous driving. In this paper, we deeply analyze the cross-domain performance of the state-of-the-art models. We observe that most models will overfit the training domains and it is challenging to adapt them to other domains directly. Existing domain adaptation methods for 3D object detection problems are actually shifting the models’ knowledge domain instead of improving their generalization ability. We then propose additional evaluation metrics – the side-view and front-view AP – to better analyze the core issues of the methods’ heavy drops in accuracy levels. By using the proposed metrics and further evaluating the cross-domain performance in each dimension, we conclude that the overfitting problem happens more obviously on the front-view surface and the width dimension which usually faces the sensor and has more 3D points surrounding it. Meanwhile, our experiments indicate that the density of the point cloud data also significantly influences the models’ cross-domain performance.

3D object detection, Cross domain, Deep learning, Generalization, LiDAR point cloud
1865-0929
76-91
Springer Singapore
Zhang, Ruixiao
2c6f06ac-00dd-461c-b35b-cff245bac50b
Lee, Juheon
cd382ebf-0bcc-47b8-a60d-68c6540d31bb
Cai, Xiaohao
de483445-45e9-4b21-a4e8-b0427fc72cee
Prugel-Bennett, Adam
b107a151-1751-4d8b-b8db-2c395ac4e14e
Mahmud, Mufti
Doborjeh, Maryam
Doborjeh, Zohreh
Wong, Kevin
Leung, Andrew Chi Sing
Tanveer, M.
Zhang, Ruixiao
2c6f06ac-00dd-461c-b35b-cff245bac50b
Lee, Juheon
cd382ebf-0bcc-47b8-a60d-68c6540d31bb
Cai, Xiaohao
de483445-45e9-4b21-a4e8-b0427fc72cee
Prugel-Bennett, Adam
b107a151-1751-4d8b-b8db-2c395ac4e14e
Mahmud, Mufti
Doborjeh, Maryam
Doborjeh, Zohreh
Wong, Kevin
Leung, Andrew Chi Sing
Tanveer, M.

Zhang, Ruixiao, Lee, Juheon, Cai, Xiaohao and Prugel-Bennett, Adam (2026) Revisiting cross-domain problem for LiDAR-based 3D object detection. Mahmud, Mufti, Doborjeh, Maryam, Doborjeh, Zohreh, Wong, Kevin, Leung, Andrew Chi Sing and Tanveer, M. (eds.) In Neural Information Processing - 31st International Conference, ICONIP 2024, Proceedings. vol. XVI, Springer Singapore. pp. 76-91 . (doi:10.1007/978-981-96-7036-9_6).

Record type: Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)

Abstract

Deep learning models such as convolutional neural networks and transformers have been widely applied to solve 3D object detection problems in the domain of autonomous driving. While existing models have achieved outstanding performance on most open benchmarks, the generalization ability of these deep networks is still in doubt. To adapt models to other domains including different cities, countries, and weather, retraining with the target domain data is currently necessary, which hinders the wide application of autonomous driving. In this paper, we deeply analyze the cross-domain performance of the state-of-the-art models. We observe that most models will overfit the training domains and it is challenging to adapt them to other domains directly. Existing domain adaptation methods for 3D object detection problems are actually shifting the models’ knowledge domain instead of improving their generalization ability. We then propose additional evaluation metrics – the side-view and front-view AP – to better analyze the core issues of the methods’ heavy drops in accuracy levels. By using the proposed metrics and further evaluating the cross-domain performance in each dimension, we conclude that the overfitting problem happens more obviously on the front-view surface and the width dimension which usually faces the sensor and has more 3D points surrounding it. Meanwhile, our experiments indicate that the density of the point cloud data also significantly influences the models’ cross-domain performance.

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2408.12708v1 - Author's Original
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution.
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More information

Published date: 19 July 2026
Venue - Dates: 31st International Conference on Neural Information Processing, ICONIP 2024, , Auckland, New Zealand, 2024-12-02 - 2024-12-06
Keywords: 3D object detection, Cross domain, Deep learning, Generalization, LiDAR point cloud

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 497973
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/497973
ISSN: 1865-0929
PURE UUID: df0d74b1-2578-4ef6-ba9e-57354aa9d4fb
ORCID for Xiaohao Cai: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-0924-2834

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 05 Feb 2025 17:51
Last modified: 09 Jan 2026 02:56

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Contributors

Author: Ruixiao Zhang
Author: Juheon Lee
Author: Xiaohao Cai ORCID iD
Author: Adam Prugel-Bennett
Editor: Mufti Mahmud
Editor: Maryam Doborjeh
Editor: Zohreh Doborjeh
Editor: Kevin Wong
Editor: Andrew Chi Sing Leung
Editor: M. Tanveer

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