ABSTRACT Road target recognition ability of automotive millimetre-wave (mmWave) radar is crucial in areas such as autonomous driving, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), and automated emergency braking systems (AEBS). Current mmWave radar systems are primarily utilized for speed, distance, and angle measurements, with limited capability or unsatisfactory performance in target classification. In response to this limitation, this paper proposes a novel method for road target recognition, using radar range-Doppler spectrum as input data and introducing a global attention mechanism and SCConv module. First, the range-Doppler spectrum is processed by the clutter removal algorithm block to remove background clutter and vibration interference. Second, considering the small features and susceptibility to noise interference in the range-Doppler spectrum, we have devised a deep residual network based on a global attention mechanism, significantly enhancing the model’s accuracy in range-Doppler spectrum classification. Finally, we introduce the SCConv module and improve the downsampling module in ResNet to enhance the model’s classification accuracy. Experimental results demonstrate that the model achieves an average accuracy of 99.79% in classifying six types of road targets, significantly outperforming other methods. This research is of significant importance in advancing the understanding of road traffic conditions by autonomous driving systems and enhancing system safety.