IEEE ITSC 2026 Tutorial
Date: 15 September 2026
Location: Naples, Italy
Format: 2.5-hour tutorial with hands-on interaction
Collaboration | Open Source | Automated Driving Systems | Benchmarking
OpenADS is a collaborative, open-source ecosystem for Automated Driving Systems (ADS). The tutorial introduces how distributed academic, research, and industry partners can jointly develop interoperable automated driving services, integrate them into a runnable reference stack, and evaluate them through transparent, benchmark-driven workflows.
The tutorial connects motivation, architecture, practical engineering, and contribution processes. Participants first learn why shared interfaces, reusable services, and neutral evaluation are important for open AD systems. The central part of the tutorial is a hands-on session with the OpenADS ecosystem: OpenADServices, OpenADStack, OpenADSim, OpenADSuite, and benchmark-oriented evaluation workflows. The session shows how independently developed services can be integrated into an AD stack and compared under consistent simulation-based evaluation conditions.
OpenADS is embedded in Germany's Ecosystem Mobility 4.0 initiative and aligned with the European Connected and Autonomous Vehicle Alliance. The tutorial is therefore both implementation-oriented and collaboration-oriented: it explains how participants can contribute services, code, benchmarks, and validation results to the ecosystem. For industry stakeholders, the approach supports faster integration, more transparent software selection, and reduced risk through reproducible cross-partner validation.
- IEEE ITSC 2026 tutorial on OpenADS and benchmark-driven ADS evaluation.
- Compact 2.5-hour format focused on practical participant interaction.
- Hands-on work with OpenADServices, OpenADStack, OpenADSim, and OpenADSuite.
- Demonstrates how modular services can be integrated, tested, benchmarked, compared, and iterated within an open ecosystem.
- Covers microservice architecture, containerization, CI/CD-based integration, modular interfaces, and transparent benchmarks.
- Addresses researchers, engineers, and industry stakeholders.
- Includes contribution guidance for functional services, testing benchmarks, and validation processes.
OpenADS consists of complementary building blocks:
- OpenADStack: connects multiple services into a runnable reference automated driving stack.
- OpenADServices: provides collaborative function-level modules.
- OpenADSim: supports simulation-driven and scenario-based testing.
- OpenADSuite: provides development tools for working with the ecosystem.
- OpenADShowcases: demonstrates real-world implementations.
The ecosystem follows four design principles. First, a microservice-oriented architecture enables ROS-package-level modules to be developed independently while CI/CD keeps the overall system integrated. Second, containerization lets each module define its own dependencies and image, so developers can work on a service without running the full stack locally. Third, modular interfaces keep the architecture flexible as ADS concepts evolve. Fourth, open tests and benchmarks make contributed modules easier to evaluate, compare, integrate, or remove.
| Time | Session | Title | Presenter(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 09:00-09:10 | Welcome and Introduction | Scope, learning objectives, and setup | All organizers |
| 09:10-09:30 | Presentation | Why Collaborative OpenADS Development? Motivation and system-level challenges | All organizers |
| 09:30-10:45 | Hands-On Experience | OpenADS reference implementation: integrating OpenADServices into OpenADStack and evaluating them with OpenADSim, OpenADSuite, and neutral benchmarks | Raphael van Kempen and Christian Geller, RWTH Aachen University |
| 10:45-11:05 | Presentation | V&V activities and homologation perspective: scenario-based V&V, traceable evidence, and safety arguments for OpenADS | Dr.-Ing. Marc Rene Zofka, FZI Forschungszentrum Informatik |
| 11:05-11:25 | Presentation | From Code to Community: collaboration processes, governance, and contribution models | Dr. Timo Woopen, Thinking Cars GmbH |
| 11:25-11:30 | Wrap-Up and Summary | Lessons learned and next collaboration steps | All organizers |
The tutorial is designed for active participation. Motivation and collaboration talks frame the problem, but the main value comes from working directly with the OpenADS ecosystem. If the local setup allows it, participants execute the OpenADS workflows live during the session.
After the tutorial, participants should understand how to:
- integrate OpenADServices into an automated driving reference stack;
- execute benchmark-oriented OpenADSim workflows;
- compare modules through transparent evaluation criteria;
- contribute services, benchmarks, and validation results to OpenADS.
- Univ.-Prof. Dr.-Ing. Lutz Eckstein, RWTH Aachen University
- Prof. Dr.-Ing. J. Marius Zoellner, FZI Forschungszentrum Informatik
- Dr. Timo Woopen, Thinking Cars GmbH
- Raphael van Kempen, RWTH Aachen University
- Christian Geller, RWTH Aachen University
- Markus Zarbock, Starwit Technologies GmbH
- Dr.-Ing. Philip Schoerner, FZI Forschungszentrum Informatik
- Dr.-Ing. Marc Rene Zofka, FZI Forschungszentrum Informatik
Primary: IEEE ITSS Technical Committee on Cooperative & Connected Vehicles.
Questions about OpenADS or the tutorial can be sent to: opensource@ika.rwth-aachen.de