Abstract: A method of 3D object detection using an object detection neural network includes: receiving one or more monocular images; extracting 2D feature maps from each one of the one or more monocular images by passing the one or more monocular images through a 2D feature extracting part of the object detection neural network, generating an averaged 3D voxel volume based on the 2D feature maps, extracting a 2D representation of 3D feature maps from the averaged 3D voxel volume by passing the averaged 3D voxel volume through an encoder of a 3D feature extracting part of the object detection neural network, and performing 3D object detection as 2D object detection in a Bird's Eye View (BEV) plane, the 2D object detection in the BEV plane being performed by passing the 2D representation of 3D feature maps through thane outdoor object detecting part of the object detection neural network.