Sensor Steering for Multi-Directional Long-Range Perception

The present disclosure relates to systems, vehicles, and methods for adjusting a pointing direction and/or a scanning region of a lidar. An example method includes determining a plurality of points of interest within an environment of a vehicle. The method also includes assigning, to each point of interest of the plurality of points of interest, a respective priority score. The method additionally includes partitioning at least a portion of the environment of the vehicle into a plurality of sectors. Each sector of the plurality of sectors includes at least one point of interest. For each sector of the plurality of sectors, the method includes adjusting a scanning region of a lidar unit based on the respective sector and causing the lidar unit to scan the respective sector.