Sensorimotor regions of the neocortex send dense projections to the dorsal striatum making this region of basal ganglia an important structure of sensory integration. Anatomically, this innervation is diffuse, with axons from various cortical areas overlapping in the same striatal region. This suggests significant integration of information by striatal projection neurons (SPNs), contributing to the striatum’s role in decision making. However, the specific role of neurons forming direct and indirect pathways (d/iSPNs), as well as the level of convergence within one sensory modality onto single neurons remains unclear. First, to evaluate the convergence of cortical inputs at the single SPN level, we performed patch clamp recordings of SPNs in mice brain slices, while stimulating neurons in the barrel cortex using glutamate uncaging with Laser Scanning Photostimulation (LSPS). Contrary to the macroscopic organization of corticostriatal projections, we found that neurons innervating single SPNs were sparse, sometimes scattered in wide regions of the barrel cortex, with limited sharing of inputs between SPNs. This suggests that integration of tactile information from the whisker-pad occurs at the population level rather than at the level of individual striatal cells. Moreover, the layers contributing to this innervation underwent developmental changes during the juvenile-adolescence period, incorporating inputs from the upper layers of the barrel cortex alongside prevailing inputs from L5a. To gain insights into the behavioral role of this projection, we developed a whisker-guided navigation task in freely moving mice. We then performed LSPS to investigate the plasticity of corticostriatal projections onto d/iSPNs in trained animals.