Aiming at the problem of accurately segmenting the ground in real-time from 3D LiDAR point cloud, a ground segmentation algorithm based on the features of scanning line segments is proposed. The algorithm first performs de-noising and pose correction on the 3D point cloud, then divides the scanning line according to the Euclidean distance and absolute height difference between adjacent points. Next, the characteristics of the adjacent line segments such as spacing, slope, and absolute height difference are analyzed. The maximum likelihood estimation is used to solve the feature threshold function, which improves the adaptability of threshold. Finally, comprehensively considering the undulating and inclined complex terrain, the scanning line segments are marked as segments of flat ground, segments of slope and segments of obstacle by formulating the new horizontal and vertical classification strategies. This algorithm has been successfully applied to the unmanned ground platform. The usage and comparative test show that the algorithm can detect the ground stably and efficiently in both urban and field scenarios.