[ros-users] [Discourse.ros.org] [Autoware/Autoware Simulator Project] Simulation software requirements

[German Ros via Discourse.ros.org]

Hi,

I would like to propose CARLA to be the official AutoWare simulation platform. Let me explain why i think CARLA is the best option right now. 

Let me start from the non-technical aspect:

* Totally open source: code and assets are free to use for both non-commercial and commercial purposes

* CARLA is sponsored by Intel, Toyota Research Institute, General Motors and KPIT, large corporations that help to keep CARLA aligned with the needs of the driving industry

* In addition the CARLA challenge, is backed up by Waymo, Uber, AWS, Audi and AlphaDrive

* CARLA has a strong community of users around the world within academia and industry

* Multiple startups are building services around CARLA to provide advance behaviour models, simulation in the cloud, procedural generation of maps, etc. Our ecosystem is large and it keeps growing.

* CARLA has a strong team: more than 20 engineers working full time in the platform
We provide monthly releases with new features and bug fixes 


>From the perspective of technical features:

* A modular server - multi-client architecture to distribute simulation load. Multiple clients, running in different nodes can connect to the same server. Feature releases will include a multi-server - multi-client architecture.

* Flexible and extensible python API. CARLA itself is designed to be an API. 

* Everything can be controlled in CARLA using the API: maps, actors (vehicles, pedestrians), weather, traffic lights.

* Full-stack simulation, from sensor simulation, planning simulation to control. Now we also expose an interface to the low-level physic parameter of vehicles, so that users can define frictions, mass, etc.

* Standard mechanism to define maps and navigability based on OpenDrive

* We now have a high-performance mode (sensor simulation off) that enables simulation at 800-1000 Hz. Hours of driving acquired in minutes

* Sensor simulation: multiple cameras, LIDARs, GPS, IMU and others. Moreover, we have plans to extend these sensors with RADAR and more accurate sensors models

* New logging and playback mode: It is possible now to log the entire simulation and resume it back at from any timestamp. This enables to try different stacks or variations of an algorithm (the simulation can be resumed and diverge from the log). 

* CARLA provides now a query engine to automatically find interesting events that happened during the simulation round. For instance, find collisions and then resume the simulation just at the interesting part.

* Simulation can run synchronously or asynchronously. This simplifies prototyping and enables the use of a large number of sensors if the user is willing to give up real-time. Total control of the simulation step (tick).

* We have created workflows and tools to simplify the generation of new maps. Now users can make use of RoadRunner to semi-automatically (and most recently totally automatically) create new maps. Those maps are now ready to ingest in CARLA.

* The new 0.9.4 release can ingest maps on the fly without recompilation 


* We also have an engine for traffic simulation to generate interesting traffic scenarios based on templates and decision trees. This engine is being used for the CARLA challenge, creating pseudo-random traffic situations on the fly inspired by the NHTSA pre-crash typology.

* CARLA supports ROS via the CARLA-ROS bridge

* CARLA is integrated with AutoWare

* CARLA is being integrated with Apollo

* Headless mode. It works in docker too.


I hope this information helps. 

Best regards,
German





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