# OpenPodcar: an Open Source Vehicle for Self-Driving Car Research

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2205.04454 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2205.04454/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 8 of its 44 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 9 May 2022.

## Builds on (most cited first, 8 of 8)

- [CARLA: An Open Urban Driving Simulator](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1711.03938/) (2017)
- [AirSim: High-Fidelity Visual and Physical Simulation for Autonomous Vehicles](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1705.05065/) (2017)
- [LGSVL Simulator: A High Fidelity Simulator for Autonomous Driving](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2005.03778/) (2020)
- [SUMMIT: A Simulator for Urban Driving in Massive Mixed Traffic](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1911.04074/) (2019)
- [Pedestrian Models for Autonomous Driving Part II: High-Level Models of Human Behavior](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2003.11959/) (2020)
- [Pedestrian Models for Autonomous Driving Part I: Low-Level Models, from Sensing to Tracking](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2002.11669/) (2020)
- [Robot Perception of Static and Dynamic Objects with an Autonomous Floor Scrubber](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2002.10158/) (2020)
- [Bridging the Gap between Open Source Software and Vehicle Hardware for Autonomous Driving](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1905.02980/) (2019)

## Abstract (arXiv)

OpenPodcar is a low-cost, open source hardware and software, autonomous vehicle research platform based on an off-the-shelf, hard-canopy, mobility scooter donor vehicle. Hardware and software build instructions are provided to convert the donor vehicle into a low-cost and fully autonomous platform. The open platform consists of (a) hardware components: CAD designs, bill of materials, and build instructions; (b) Arduino, ROS and Gazebo control and simulation software files which provide standard ROS interfaces and simulation of the vehicle; and (c) higher-level ROS software implementations and configurations of standard robot autonomous planning and control, including the move_base interface with Timed-Elastic-Band planner which enacts commands to drive the vehicle from a current to a desired pose around obstacles. The vehicle is large enough to transport a human passenger or similar load at speeds up to 15km/h, for example for use as a last-mile autonomous taxi service or to transport delivery containers similarly around a city center. It is small and safe enough to be parked in a standard research lab and be used for realistic human-vehicle interaction studies. System build cost from new components is around USD7,000 in total in 2022. OpenPodcar thus provides a good balance between real world utility, safety, cost and research convenience.