carla_converter

Converter for CARLA specific ROS 2 data to OpenADS interfaces

The carla_converter node converts CARLA actor, object, traffic light, and world information into OpenADS-compatible messages. It only changes the message format and does not perform OpenADStack or vehicle-specific transformations. Key features:

• Object conversion: converts CARLA object arrays into OpenADS object list outputs.
• Per-actor ego outputs: publishes ego data from odometry, vehicle status, vehicle info, GNSS, and IMU inputs.
• Traffic light support: optionally converts CARLA traffic light info and status streams into traffic light object lists.
• Configurable integration: exposes launch arguments and parameters for topic remapping, actor selection, covariance values, fixed frames, namespace, node name, and log level.

Note

The downstream module is the simulation_adapter, which adapts the incoming OpenADS interfaces to the selected stack and vehicle. Its output can differ depending on the selected vehicle.

🚀 Quick Start • 💻 Development • 📝 Documentation

Important

This repository is part of OpenADS, the Open Automated Driving Systems project. OpenADS and its modules have been initiated and are currently being maintained by the Institute for Automotive Engineering (ika) at RWTH Aachen University.

🚀 Quick Start

1. Start a container of the pre-built runtime image.

   docker run --rm -it ghcr.io/openads-project/carla_converter:latest bash

2. Inside the container, launch the pre-built nodes.

   ros2 launch carla_converter carla_converter.launch.py

💻 Development

Set up Development Environment

1. Clone the repository.

   git clone https://github.com/openads-project/carla_converter.git

2. Initialize the .openads-dev-environment submodule containing development environment configuration.

   cd carla_converter
   git submodule update --init --recursive

3. Open the repository in Visual Studio Code.

   code .

4. Install the recommended VS Code extensions.

   Ctrl+Shift+P / Extensions: Show Recommended Extensions / Install Workspace Recommended Extensions (Cloud Download Icon)

5. Reopen the repository in a Dev Container.

   Ctrl+Shift+P / Dev Containers: Rebuild and Reopen in Container

Build

Ctrl+Shift+B

colcon build

Run Tests

Ctrl+Shift+P / Tasks: Run Test Task

colcon build --cmake-args -DCMAKE_EXPORT_COMPILE_COMMANDS=1
colcon test
colcon test-result --verbose

📝 Documentation

Package and node interfaces are documented in the respective package READMEs listed below. Implementation details are found in the Source Code Documentation.

Package	Description
carla_converter	Converter for CARLA specific ROS 2 data to OpenADS interfaces.

⚖️ Licensing

The source code in this repository is licensed under Apache-2.0, see LICENSE. Container images provided by this repository may contain third-party software shipped with their own license terms.

🙏 Acknowledgements

Development and maintenance of this repository are supported by the following projects. We acknowledge the funding of the respective institutions.

Project	Funding Institution	Grant Number
AIGGREGATE	🇪🇺 European Union	101202457
AIthena	🇪🇺 European Union	101076754
autotech.agil	🇩🇪 Federal Ministry for Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR)	01IS22088A

_{^{Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA). Neither the European Union nor CINEA can be held responsible for them.}}