# Mind the Hitch: Dynamic Calibration and Articulated Perception for Autonomous Trucks

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.23711 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.23711/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 27 of its 39 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 24 Mar 2026.

## Builds on (most cited first, 27 of 27)

- [Scalable Diffusion Models with Transformers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.09748/) (2022)
- [nuScenes: A multimodal dataset for autonomous driving](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1903.11027/) (2019)
- [Deformable DETR: Deformable Transformers for End-to-End Object Detection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2010.04159/) (2020)
- [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)
- [DUSt3R: Geometric 3D Vision Made Easy](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.14132/) (2023)
- [VGGT: Visual Geometry Grounded Transformer](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.11651/) (2025)
- [BEVFormer: Learning Bird's-Eye-View Representation from Multi-Camera Images via Spatiotemporal Transformers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.17270/) (2022)
- [Planning-oriented Autonomous Driving](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.10156/) (2022)
- [Argoverse 2: Next Generation Datasets for Self-Driving Perception and Forecasting](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2301.00493/) (2023)
- [VAD: Vectorized Scene Representation for Efficient Autonomous Driving](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.12077/) (2023)
- [DiffusionDrive: Truncated Diffusion Model for End-to-End Autonomous Driving](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.15139/) (2024)
- [NeuralRecon: Real-Time Coherent 3D Reconstruction from Monocular Video](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2104.00681/) (2021)
- [Visual Geometry Grounded Deep Structure From Motion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.04563/) (2023)
- [Don't Shake the Wheel: Momentum-Aware Planning in End-to-End Autonomous Driving](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.03125/) (2025)
- [Bridging Past and Future: End-to-End Autonomous Driving with Historical Prediction and Planning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.14182/) (2025)
- [MAN TruckScenes: A multimodal dataset for autonomous trucking in diverse conditions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.07462/) (2024)
- [Matrix3D: Large Photogrammetry Model All-in-One](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.07685/) (2025)
- [Towards Generalizable Multi-Object Tracking](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.00429/) (2024)
- [SOAC: Spatio-Temporal Overlap-Aware Multi-Sensor Calibration using Neural Radiance Fields](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.15803/) (2023)
- [UniCal: Unified Neural Sensor Calibration](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.18953/) (2024)
- [MULi-Ev: Maintaining Unperturbed LiDAR-Event Calibration](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.18021/) (2024)
- [ModeSeq: Taming Sparse Multimodal Motion Prediction with Sequential Mode Modeling](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.11911/) (2024)
- [RC-AutoCalib: An End-to-End Radar-Camera Automatic Calibration Network](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.22427/) (2025)
- [CaLiV: LiDAR-to-Vehicle Calibration of Arbitrary Sensor Setups](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.01987/) (2025)
- [TruckV2X: A Truck-Centered Perception Dataset](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.09505/) (2025)
- [Autonomous Navigation of Tractor-Trailer Vehicles through Roundabout Intersections](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.04980/) (2024)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Autonomous trucking poses unique challenges due to articulated tractor-trailer geometry, and time-varying sensor poses caused by the fifth-wheel joint and trailer flex. Existing perception and calibration methods assume static baselines or rely on high-parallax and texture-rich scenes, limiting their reliability under real-world settings. We propose dCAP (dynamic Calibration and Articulated Perception), a vision-based framework that continuously estimates the 6-DoF (degree of freedom) relative pose between tractor and trailer cameras. dCAP employs a transformer with cross-view and temporal attention to robustly aggregate spatial cues while maintaining temporal consistency, enabling accurate perception under rapid articulation and occlusion. Integrated with BEVFormer, dCAP improves 3D object detection by replacing static calibration with dynamically predicted extrinsics. To facilitate evaluation, we introduce STT4AT, a CARLA-based benchmark simulating semi-trailer trucks with synchronized multi-sensor suites and time-varying inter-rig geometry across diverse environments. Experiments demonstrate that dCAP achieves stable, accurate perception while addressing the limitations of static calibration in autonomous trucking. The dataset, development kit, and source code will be publicly released.