Generating simplified object models to reduce computational resource requirements for autonomous vehicles

A method of controlling a vehicle using a simplified model of an object, the method comprising:

• receiving, by one or more computing devices from one or more sensors of the vehicle, sensor data including a plurality of three-dimensional data points corresponding to surfaces of the object in the vehicle's environment;
• determining, by the one or more computing devices, a first model representative of the object using only two-dimensional data points of the plurality of three-dimensional data points;
• generating, by the one or more computing devices, a second model representative of the object by removing data points of the first model corresponding to surfaces that were occluded from the one or more sensors of the vehicle when the sensor data was captured;
• and
• controlling, by the one or more computing devices, the vehicle in an autonomous driving mode based on the second model.