Various systems and methods for implementing LiDAR-based object detection and classification are described herein. An object detection system includes a feature extraction and object identification (FEOI) circuit to: receive segmented data of an environment around the object detection system, the segmented data obtained using a light imaging detection and ranging (LiDAR) system, oriented with respect to a direction of travel; compute spatial and structural parameters of a segment of the segmented data; and use the spatial and structural parameters with a machine learning model to obtain a classification of the segment.