Abstract: Systems and methods are described for measuring velocity of an object detected by a light detection and ranging (lidar) system. According to some aspects a method may include receiving a lidar dataset generated by the lidar system, transforming the lidar dataset into a first layer dataset and a second layer dataset, and converting the first layer dataset into a first image and the second layer dataset into a second image. The method may also include performing a feature detection operation that identifies at least one feature in the first image and the same feature in the second image, locating a first location of the feature in the first image and a second location of the feature in the second image, and generating a velocity estimate of the feature based on a difference between the first location and the second location and a difference between the different time intervals.