# LiDAR-GS:Real-time LiDAR Re-Simulation using Gaussian Splatting

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2410.05111 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.05111/

## Key facts

- Cited by 15 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 32 of its 46 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 7 Oct 2024.

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 32)

- [3D Gaussian Splatting for Real-Time Radiance Field Rendering](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.04079/) (2023)
- [Scalability in Perception for Autonomous Driving: Waymo Open Dataset](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1912.04838/) (2019)
- [CARLA: An Open Urban Driving Simulator](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1711.03938/) (2017)
- [Planning-oriented Autonomous Driving](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.10156/) (2022)
- [2D Gaussian Splatting for Geometrically Accurate Radiance Fields](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.17888/) (2024)
- [A Point Set Generation Network for 3D Object Reconstruction from a Single Image](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1612.00603/) (2016)
- [Scaffold-GS: Structured 3D Gaussians for View-Adaptive Rendering](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.00109/) (2023)
- [KITTI-360: A Novel Dataset and Benchmarks for Urban Scene Understanding in 2D and 3D](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2109.13410/) (2021)
- [Learning Interactive Real-World Simulators](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.06114/) (2023)
- [MapTR: Structured Modeling and Learning for Online Vectorized HD Map Construction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2208.14437/) (2022)
- [BEVFormer v2: Adapting Modern Image Backbones to Bird's-Eye-View Recognition via Perspective Supervision](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2211.10439/) (2022)
- [Neural Scene Graphs for Dynamic Scenes](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2011.10379/) (2020)
- [Octree-GS: Towards Consistent Real-time Rendering with LOD-Structured 3D Gaussians](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.17898/) (2024)
- [MapTRv2: An End-to-End Framework for Online Vectorized HD Map Construction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.05736/) (2023)
- [MARS: An Instance-aware, Modular and Realistic Simulator for Autonomous Driving](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2307.15058/) (2023)
- [LiDARsim: Realistic LiDAR Simulation by Leveraging the Real World](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2006.09348/) (2020)
- [Recent Advances in 3D Gaussian Splatting](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.11134/) (2024)
- [Rethinking Range View Representation for LiDAR Segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.05367/) (2023)
- [Editable Scene Simulation for Autonomous Driving via Collaborative LLM-Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.05746/) (2024)
- [AbsGS: Recovering Fine Details for 3D Gaussian Splatting](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.10484/) (2024)
- [Neural LiDAR Fields for Novel View Synthesis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.01643/) (2023)
- [LiDAR-NeRF: Novel LiDAR View Synthesis via Neural Radiance Fields](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.10406/) (2023)
- [On the Error Analysis of 3D Gaussian Splatting and an Optimal Projection Strategy](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.00752/) (2024)
- [Data-driven Traffic Simulation: A Comprehensive Review](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.15975/) (2023)
- [LiDAR4D: Dynamic Neural Fields for Novel Space-time View LiDAR Synthesis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.02742/) (2024)
- [Choose Your Simulator Wisely: A Review on Open-source Simulators for Autonomous Driving](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.11056/) (2023)
- [A Purely Algebraic Justification of the Kabsch-Umeyama Algorithm](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1902.03138/) (2019)
- [Dynamic LiDAR Re-simulation using Compositional Neural Fields](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.05247/) (2023)
- [PCGen: Point Cloud Generator for LiDAR Simulation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.08738/) (2022)
- [Are NeRFs ready for autonomous driving? Towards closing the real-to-simulation gap](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.16092/) (2024)

## Built on by (most cited first, 15 of 15)

- [RadarSplat: Radar Gaussian Splatting for High-Fidelity Data Synthesis and 3D Reconstruction of Autonomous Driving Scenes](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.01379/) (2025)
- [Learning-based 3D Reconstruction in Autonomous Driving: A Comprehensive Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.14537/) (2025)
- [LiHi-GS: LiDAR-Supervised Gaussian Splatting for Highway Driving Scene Reconstruction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.15447/) (2024)
- [OmniGen: Unified Multimodal Sensor Generation for Autonomous Driving](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2512.14225/) (2025)
- [Splat-LOAM: Gaussian Splatting LiDAR Odometry and Mapping](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.17491/) (2025)
- [InvRGB+L: Inverse Rendering of Complex Scenes with Unified Color and LiDAR Reflectance Modeling](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.17613/) (2025)
- [Industrial-Grade Sensor Simulation via Gaussian Splatting: A Modular Framework for Scalable Editing and Full-Stack Validation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.11731/) (2025)
- [SaLF: Sparse Local Fields for Multi-Sensor Rendering in Real-Time](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.18713/) (2025)
- [LiDAR-GS++:Improving LiDAR Gaussian Reconstruction via Diffusion Priors](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2511.12304/) (2025)
- [Physically Based Neural LiDAR Resimulation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.12489/) (2025)
- [LiDAR-EVS: Enhance Extrapolated View Synthesis for 3D Gaussian Splatting with Pseudo-LiDAR Supervision](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.14763/) (2026)
- [Neural-MMGS: Multi-modal Neural Gaussian Splats for Large-Scale Scene Reconstruction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.17762/) (2025)
- [GaussianSSC: Triplane-Guided Directional Gaussian Fields for 3D Semantic Completion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.21487/) (2026)
- [OccSim: Multi-kilometer Simulation with Long-horizon Occupancy World Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.28887/) (2026)
- [Open-Vocabulary BEV Segmentation with 3D-Aware Geometric Constraints](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.24353/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

We present LiDAR-GS, a Gaussian Splatting (GS) method for real-time, high-fidelity re-simulation of LiDAR scans in public urban road scenes. Recent GS methods proposed for cameras have achieved significant advancements in real-time rendering beyond Neural Radiance Fields (NeRF). However, applying GS representation to LiDAR, an active 3D sensor type, poses several challenges that must be addressed to preserve high accuracy and unique characteristics. Specifically, LiDAR-GS designs a differentiable laser beam splatting, using range-view representation for precise surface splatting by projecting lasers onto micro cross-sections, effectively eliminating artifacts associated with local affine approximations. Furthermore, LiDAR-GS leverages Neural Gaussian Representation, which further integrate view-dependent clues, to represent key LiDAR properties that are influenced by the incident direction and external factors. Combining these practices with some essential adaptations, e.g., dynamic instances decomposition, LiDAR-GS succeeds in simultaneously re-simulating depth, intensity, and ray-drop channels, achieving state-of-the-art results in both rendering frame rate and quality on publically available large scene datasets when compared with the methods using explicit mesh or implicit NeRF. Our source code is publicly available at https://www.github.com/cqf7419/LiDAR-GS.