Embodiments relate to hazard detection in autonomous and semi-autonomous systems and applications. A transformer may use sampled image and LiDAR features to extract and decode a representation of one or more features of each point (e.g., refined height, range, driving condition, etc.) on a sampled surface (e.g., the road). These detections may be provided to one or more control components of an autonomous vehicle, which may use the detections to navigate, plan, or otherwise perform one or more operations. Some embodiments employ an automated approach to derive ground truth data from sensor data collected by data collection vehicle(s), such as data representing detected ground surface models, detected surface features, detected weather and/or surface condition labels, and/or detected per-point artifact labels. Accordingly, surface features such as ground surface heights along a predicted trajectory may be detected and ground truth data may be generated for a variety of sensing tasks.