Adjusting area of focus of vehicle sensors by controlling spatial distributions of scan lines

A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing thereon instructions executable by one or more processors to implement a sensor control architecture for controlling at least a first sensor of a vehicle, wherein the first sensor senses an environment through which the vehicle is moving by producing a plurality of scan lines arranged according to a spatial distribution, and wherein the sensor control architecture is configured to:

• receive sensor data generated by one or more sensors of the vehicle, wherein the one or more sensors are configured to sense the environment through which the vehicle is moving;
• identify, based on the received sensor data, one or more areas of interest in the environment, including:
• identify a first area that encompasses an area of ground in front of the vehicle,
• identify a second area that is higher than the first area and includes at least a portion of a horizon in front of the vehicle, and
• identify a third area that is higher than the second area;
• and
• cause, based on the areas of interest, the spatial distribution of the plurality of scan lines produced by the first sensor to be adjusted, including cause the first sensor to generate a spatial distribution of scan lines that includes:
• a first number of the plurality of scan lines in the first area,
• a second number of the plurality of scan lines in the second area, and
• a third number of the plurality of scan lines in the third area, with the second number being greater than the first number, and the first number being greater than the third number.