AutoDRIVE Simulator -- Technical Report

Abstract

AutoDRIVE is envisioned to be a comprehensive research platform for scaled autonomous vehicles. This work is a stepping-stone towards the greater goal of realizing such a research platform. Particularly, this work proposes a pseudo-realistic simulator for scaled autonomous vehicles, which is targeted towards simplicity, modularity and flexibility. The AutoDRIVE Simulator not only mimics realistic system dynamics but also simulates a comprehensive sensor suite and realistic actuator response. The simulator also features a communication bridge in order to interface externally developed autonomous driving software stack, which allows users to design and develop their algorithms conveniently and have them tested on our simulator. Presently, the bridge is compatible with Robot Operating System (ROS) and can be interfaced directly with the Python and C++ scripts developed as a part of this project. The bridge supports local as well as distributed computing.