A machine learning model is trained by defining a scenario including models of vehicles and a typical driving environment. A model of a subject vehicle is added to the scenario and sensor locations are defined on the subject vehicle. A perception of the scenario by sensors at the sensor locations is simulated. The scenario further includes a model of a lane-splitting vehicle. The location of the lane-splitting vehicle and the simulated outputs of the sensors perceiving the scenario are input to a machine learning algorithm that trains a model to detect the location of a lane-splitting vehicle based on the sensor outputs. A vehicle controller then incorporates the machine learning model and estimates the presence and/or location of a lane-splitting vehicle based on actual sensor outputs input to the machine learning model.