Laser Waveform Embedding

A system includes a light detection and ranging device configured to generate, for each respective point of a plurality of points in an environment, a corresponding waveform that represents physical characteristics of the respective point. The system also includes a signal processor configured to determine, based on the corresponding waveform of each respective point, a map of the environment that includes a representation of a corresponding position of the respective point. The system additionally includes an embedding model configured to determine, for each respective point and based on the corresponding waveform, a corresponding vector comprising a plurality of values representative of the physical characteristics of the respective point. The system further includes a feature detector configured to detect or classify a physical feature based on (i) the corresponding positions of one or more points of the plurality of points and (ii) the corresponding vectors of the one or more points.