Condensing sensor data for transmission and processing

A system comprising:

• a laser configured to collect laser scan data for one or more locations surrounding a vehicle, wherein the laser scan data is associated with a period of time that it took the laser to completely sweep through a field of view of the laser;
• one or more processors in communication with the laser;
• and
• memory coupled to the one or more processors, wherein the one or more processors are configured to:
• associate the collected laser scan data with one or more cells of a grid;
• condense the laser scan data into a set of characteristics for each of the one or more cells of the grid, wherein the set of characteristics being less than and a different type of data than the laser scan data and condensing includes at least removing a portion of data from the laser scan data;
• forward the set of characteristics for the one or more cells to a computing system.

A non-transitory, tangible computer-readable storage medium on which computer readable instructions of a program are stored, the instructions, when executed by a processor associated with a vehicle, cause the processor to perform a method, the method comprising:

• collecting, from a laser, laser scan data for one or more locations surrounding a vehicle, wherein the laser scan data is associated with a period of time that it took the laser to completely sweep through a field of view of the laser;
• associating the collected laser scan data with one or more cells of a grid;
• condensing, using the one or more processors, the laser scan data into a set of characteristics for each of the one or more cells of the grid, wherein the set of characteristics being less than and a different type of data than the laser scan data and condensing includes at least removing a portion of data from the laser scan data;
• forwarding, using the one or more processors, the set of characteristics for the one or more cells to a computing system.