CARLA: An Open Urban Driving Simulator

We introduce CARLA, an open-source simulator for autonomous driving research. CARLA has been developed from the ground up to support development, training, and validation of autonomous urban driving systems. In addition to open-source code and protocols, CARLA provides open digital assets (urban layouts, buildings, vehicles) that were created for this purpose and can be used freely. The simulation platform supports flexible specification of sensor suites and environmental conditions. We use CARLA to study the performance of three approaches to autonomous driving: a classic modular pipeline, an end-to-end model trained via imitation learning, and an end-to-end model trained via reinforcement learning. The approaches are evaluated in controlled scenarios of increasing difficulty, and their performance is examined via metrics provided by CARLA, illustrating the platform's utility for autonomous driving research. The supplementary video can be viewed at this https URL

• Publication year

  2017

• Venue

  Conference on Robot Learning

• Publication date

  2017-10-18

• Fields of study

  Mathematics, Computer Science, Engineering, Environmental Science

• Identifiers
  arXiv 1711.03938
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

• Autonomous Driving

  2018cited by this paper
• AutonoVi: Autonomous vehicle planning with dynamic maneuvers and traffic constraints

  2017cited by this paper
• Deep Reinforcement Learning that Matters

  2017cited by this paper
• Playing for Benchmarks

  2017cited by this paper
• End-to-End Driving Via Conditional Imitation Learning

  2017influential reference
• Asynchronous Methods for Deep Reinforcement Learning

  2016influential reference
• A Benchmark and Simulator for UAV Tracking

  2016cited by this paper
• The SYNTHIA Dataset: A Large Collection of Synthetic Images for Semantic Segmentation of Urban Scenes

  2016cited by this paper
• A Survey of Motion Planning and Control Techniques for Self-Driving Urban Vehicles

  2016cited by this paper
• RefineNet: Multi-path Refinement Networks for High-Resolution Semantic Segmentation

  2016cited by this paper
• Playing for Data: Ground Truth from Computer Games

  2016cited by this paper
• Evaluating visual ADAS components on the COnGRATS dataset

  2016cited by this paper
• High-fidelity simulation for evaluating robotic vision performance

  2016cited by this paper
• Benefit of large field-of-view cameras for visual odometry

  2016cited by this paper
• Reinforcement Learning with Unsupervised Auxiliary Tasks

  2016cited by this paper
• Learning to Act by Predicting the Future

  2016influential reference
• VirtualWorlds as Proxy for Multi-object Tracking Analysis

  2016cited by this paper
• Human-level control through deep reinforcement learning

  2015cited by this paper
• ALVINN, an autonomous land vehicle in a neural network

  2015cited by this paper
• DeepDriving: Learning Affordance for Direct Perception in Autonomous Driving

  2015cited by this paper
• Adam: A Method for Stochastic Optimization

  2014influential reference
• Robust PID Steering Control in Parameter Space for Highly Automated Driving

  2014cited by this paper
• Framework for Generation of Synthetic Ground Truth Data for Driver Assistance Applications

  2013cited by this paper
• Real-Time Camera Tracking: When is High Frame-Rate Best?

  2012cited by this paper
• ImageNet classification with deep convolutional neural networks

  2012cited by this paper
• Learning from Demonstration for Autonomous Navigation in Complex Unstructured Terrain

  2010cited by this paper
• Off-Road Obstacle Avoidance through End-to-End Learning

  2005cited by this paper
• TORCS, The Open Racing Car Simulator

  2005cited by this paper

• VILTA: A VLM-in-the-Loop Adversary for Enhancing Driving Policy Robustness

  2026cites this paper
• Robustness Is a Function, Not a Number: A Factorized Comprehensive Study of OOD Robustness in Vision-Based Driving

  2026cites this paper
• A stochastic shared control approach for real-time driving assistance via behavior online learning

  2026cites this paper
• Efficient Local-to-Global Collaborative Perception via Joint Communication and Computation Optimization

  2026cites this paper
• Autonomous vehicle motion planning considering observation uncertainty at unsignalized intersections

  2026cites this paper
• karl. -- A Research Vehicle for Automated and Connected Driving

  2026cites this paper
• Collaborative Sensing and Communication for Intelligent Connected Vehicles: A Comprehensive Survey

  2026cites this paper
• Deep Reinforcement Learning Based Autonomous Drift System for Abrupt Obstacle Avoidance

  2026cites this paper
• MB-UDF: A self-supervised model for continuous representation of seafloor topography using multibeam echo sounder data

  2026cites this paper
• SGCP: A Self-Organized Game-Theoretic Framework For Collaborative Perception

  2026influential citation
• LLM-Driven Scenario-Aware Planning for Autonomous Driving

  2026cites this paper
• MTDrive: Multi-turn Interactive Reinforcement Learning for Autonomous Driving

  2026cites this paper
• Localization for car-like vehicles using loosely coupled dual-GNSS integration

  2026cites this paper
• Driving with DINO: Vision Foundation Features as a Unified Bridge for Sim-to-Real Generation in Autonomous Driving

  2026cites this paper
• MATdiff: Learning diffusion policy with multi-auxiliary task for mobile robot visual exploration

  2026cites this paper
• From black-box to white-box: Interpretable deep reinforcement learning with Kolmogorov-Arnold networks for autonomous driving

  2026cites this paper
• End-to-End LiDAR optimization for 3D point cloud registration

  2026cites this paper
• SAFE-Q: Safety-Aware End-to-End Driving Using CrossQ Deep Reinforcement Learning

  2026cites this paper
• AlignDrive: Aligned Lateral-Longitudinal Planning for End-to-End Autonomous Driving

  2026cites this paper
• SGDrive: Scene-to-Goal Hierarchical World Cognition for Autonomous Driving

  2026cites this paper
• See Less, Drive Better: Generalizable End-to-End Autonomous Driving via Foundation Models Stochastic Patch Selection

  2026cites this paper
• From Prompts to Pavement: LMMs-based Agentic Behavior-Tree Generation Framework for Autonomous Vehicles

  2026cites this paper
• Breaking Task Impasses Quickly: Adaptive Neuro-Symbolic Learning for Open-World Robotics

  2026cites this paper
• Monocular depth estimation in adverse weather via cross-domain data fusion and hybrid supervision

  2026cites this paper
• Simulation of Vehicle-to-Pedestrian Communication for Development of Novel C-ITS Services for Vulnerable Road Users

  2026cites this paper
• AutoMerge: Search-Based Model Merging Framework for Effective Model Reuse

  2026influential citation
• A Graph-based Framework for Coverage Analysis in Autonomous Driving

  2026cites this paper
• GDPR-Compliant Person Recognition in Industrial Environments Using MEMS-LiDAR and Hybrid Data

  2026influential citation
• AppleVLM: End-to-End Autonomous Driving With Advanced Perception and Planning-Enhanced Vision-Language Models

  2026influential citation
• Quantitative Validation of Artificial Precognition Adaptive Cognized Control: Real-World Performance Evaluation Across Automotive and Railway Operational Deployments

  2026cites this paper
• End-to-End Autonomous Guidance Method Integrated With Mixture-of-Experts for Intelligent Vehicles

  2026cites this paper
• Digital Network Twin-Enabled Synchronization and Localization

  2026cites this paper
• Efficient and Accurate Cross-Camera Vehicle Trajectory Recovery

  2026cites this paper
• Frenet Enveloping Planner: An Efficient Local Path Planning Framework for Autonomous Driving

  2026cites this paper
• Cooperative Perception of Multi-Agents Under the Spatio-Temporal Drift Issue

  2026cites this paper
• SRIF: A Safer Ranking Inference Framework for Diffusion Policy Models Without Retraining

  2026cites this paper
• Deep Reinforcement Learning-Based Adaptive Scheduling for Intelligent Vehicle Heterogeneous Computing

  2026cites this paper
• A Deployment-Oriented Simulation Framework for Deep Learning-Based Lane Change Prediction

  2026cites this paper
• DF-CoopNet: Cooperative perception via local feature enhancement and global sparse attention

  2026cites this paper
• Integrating Multi-Armed Bandit, Active Learning, and Distributed Computing for Scalable Optimization

  2026influential citation
• Correcting Autonomous Driving Object Detection Misclassifications with Automated Commonsense Reasoning

  2026cites this paper
• InstaDrive: Instance-Aware Driving World Models for Realistic and Consistent Video Generation

  2026cites this paper
• Software-Hardware Co-optimization for Modular E2E AV Paradigm: A Unified Framework of Optimization Approaches, Simulation Environment and Evaluation Metrics

  2026cites this paper
• UEOF: A Benchmark Dataset for Underwater Event-Based Optical Flow

  2026cites this paper
• Generative Scenario Rollouts for End-to-End Autonomous Driving

  2026cites this paper
• CARLA-Round: A Multi-Factor Simulation Dataset for Roundabout Trajectory Prediction

  2026cites this paper
• ARISE - Adaptive Refinement and Iterative Scenario Engineering

  2026cites this paper
• SELF-DRIVING CAR SIMULATION USING ADVANCED NEURAL NETWORK

  2026cites this paper
• MIRAGE: Enabling Real-Time Automotive Mediated Reality

  2026cites this paper
• Learning Contextual Runtime Monitors for Safe AI-Based Autonomy

  2026cites this paper
• HPTune: Hierarchical Proactive Tuning for Collision-Free Model Predictive Control

  2026cites this paper
• AtPatch: Debugging Transformers via Hot-Fixing Over-Attention

  2026cites this paper
• SavviDriver: model-based framework for game-based testing of autonomous vehicles in diverse multi-agent traffic scenarios

  2026cites this paper
• Adapting Reinforcement Learning for Path Planning in Constrained Parking Scenarios

  2026cites this paper
• DriveRight: An Embedded AI-Based Multi-Hazard Detection and Alert System for Safe and Sustainable Driving

  2026cites this paper
• QANPRODrive: a VLM-based clustering approach for safety-critical driving scenarios

  2026cites this paper
• V2X-DSC: Multi-Agent Collaborative Perception with Distributed Source Coding Guided Communication

  2026cites this paper
• ForSim: Stepwise Forward Simulation for Traffic Policy Fine-Tuning

  2026cites this paper
• Beyond the Vehicle: Cooperative Localization by Fusing Point Clouds for GPS-Challenged Urban Scenarios

  2026cites this paper
• Natural Language Instructions for Scene-Responsive Human-in-the-Loop Motion Planning in Autonomous Driving using Vision-Language-Action Models

  2026cites this paper
• Smartphones to the Rescue? Recovering Autonomous Vehicles Without Wheels or Pedals

  2026cites this paper
• ROMAN: Reward-Orchestrated Multi-Head Attention Network for Autonomous Driving System Testing

  2026cites this paper
• FullPerception: Network-Level Collaborative Perception for Eliminating Vehicular Blind Spots

  2026cites this paper
• Securing End-to-End Reinforcement Learning-Driven Autonomous Driving: A Control Command Utility-Based Intrusion Response System

  2026cites this paper
• Large-Scale Neural Scene Disentanglement Approach for Self-Driving Simulation

  2026cites this paper
• Safe Tactical Decision-Making for Autonomous Vehicles Considering Uncertainties in Deep Learning-Based Visual Perception

  2026cites this paper
• Investigating a Unified 3-D Object Detection Method for Different Multibeam LiDAR

  2026cites this paper
• Confidence-V2X: Confidence-driven sparse communication for efficient V2X cooperative perception

  2026cites this paper
• Multimodal understanding with GPT-4o to enhance generalizable pedestrian behavior prediction

  2026cites this paper
• Auto-DBPA: Density-Aware Ball-Pivoting Algorithm With Adaptive Radius Using Contextual Bandits for Object and Scene Reconstruction

  2026cites this paper
• From Scenarios Engineering to Scenarios Intelligence: Microworld Models for Embodied AI Based on Parallel Intelligence

  2026cites this paper
• Physical and virtual safety evaluation in autonomous driving systems using three-dimensional adversarial implementations

  2026cites this paper
• Delving Into the Secrets of BEV 3D Object Detection in Autonomous Driving: A Comprehensive Survey

  2026cites this paper
• A cooperative decision-making method for CAVs from the perspective of opinion dynamics

  2026cites this paper
• FlowCalib: Targetless Infrastructure LiDAR-Camera Extrinsic Calibration Based on Optical Flow and Scene Flow

  2026cites this paper
• End-to-End Autonomous Driving: From Classic Paradigm to Large Model Empowerment—A Comprehensive Survey

  2026cites this paper
• LM-VINS: A Robust and Computationally Efficient Visual-Inertial Navigation System for Loitering Munitions

  2026cites this paper
• Large (Vision) Language Models for Autonomous Vehicles: Current Trends and Future Directions

  2026cites this paper
• mmReg: Centimeter-Level and Real-Time mmWave Radar Point Cloud Registration for Multivehicle Sensing

  2026cites this paper
• Enhancing vehicular safety with multi-object multi-camera tracking in Open RAN networks

  2026cites this paper
• A Review on Multi-Scenario Decision-Making for Urban Autonomous Driving

  2026cites this paper
• Bayesian Inverse Games with High-Dimensional Multi-Modal Observations

  2026influential citation
• ParkGaussian: Surround-view 3D Gaussian Splatting for Autonomous Parking

  2026influential citation
• Reinforcement learning in robotic systems : A review on sim-to-real transfer

  2026cites this paper
• UniLiPs: Unified LiDAR Pseudo-Labeling with Geometry-Grounded Dynamic Scene Decomposition

  2026cites this paper
• UniDrive-WM: Unified Understanding, Planning and Generation World Model For Autonomous Driving

  2026cites this paper
• COVR:Collaborative Optimization of VLMs and RL Agent for Visual-Based Control

  2026cites this paper
• VirtualEnv: A Platform for Embodied AI Research

  2026cites this paper
• Towards Safer Mobile Agents: Scalable Generation and Evaluation of Diverse Scenarios for VLMs

  2026cites this paper
• MAD: Motion Appearance Decoupling for efficient Driving World Models

  2026cites this paper
• CoGMoE: Sparse and specialized framework for multi-agent collaborative perception via graph mixture-of-experts

  2026cites this paper
• Eyes on the Road, Words in the Changing Skies: Vision-Language Assistance for Autonomous Driving in Transitional Weather

  2026cites this paper
• Discovering Safety Violations of Decision-Making in Autonomous Driving Systems from Accident-Free Traffic Scenarios

  2026influential citation
• Design of an AI-Based Decision-Support Framework to Enhance Road Safety in Varying Autonomy Conditions Using Virtual Reality

  2026influential citation
• Contingency Planning for Safety-Critical Autonomous Vehicles: A Review and Perspectives

  2026cites this paper
• DrivIng: A Large-Scale Multimodal Driving Dataset with Full Digital Twin Integration

  2026cites this paper
• MAPLE: A Modularized Framework for Learning-Based Planners to Integrate Prediction

  2026cites this paper
• DMAVA: Distributed Multi-Autonomous Vehicle Architecture Using Autoware

  2026cites this paper
• Self-Supervised Path Planning in Unstructured Environments via Global-Guided Differentiable Hard Constraint Projection

  2026cites this paper
• Multi-Agent Sensor Fusion Methodology Using Deep Reinforcement Learning: Vehicle Sensors to Localization.

  2026cites this paper