Apparatus, device and method for performing a perception task, and corresponding computer-readable storage medium

A method for performing a perception task, the method comprising:

• generating 3D sensor features from data from one or more sensors;
• generating a plurality of height maps from the 3D sensor features at a plurality of times;
• generating a height gradient map from the plurality of height maps;
• fusing the 3D sensor features and the height gradient map to generate height informed fused features;
• and
• performing the perception task using the height informed fused features.

A device configured to perform a perception task, the device comprising:

• means for generating 3D sensor features data from one or more sensors;
• means for generating a plurality of height maps from the 3D sensor features at a plurality of times;
• means for generating a height gradient map from the plurality of height maps;
• means for fusing the 3D sensor features and the height gradient map to generate height informed fused features;
• and
• means for performing the perception task using the height informed fused features.