CommonRoad-CARLA Interface: Bridging the Gap between Motion Planning and 3D Simulation

Motion planning algorithms should be tested on a large, diverse, and realistic set of scenarios before deploying them in real vehicles. However, existing 3D simulators usually focus on perception and end-to-end learning, lacking specific interfaces for motion planning. We present an interface for the CARLA simulator focusing on motion planning, e.g., to create configurable test scenarios and execute motion planners in interactive environments. Additionally, we introduce a converter from lanelet-based maps to OpenDRIVE, making it possible to use CommonRoad and Lanelet2 maps in CARLA. Our evaluation shows that our interface is easy to use, creates new scenarios efficiently, and can successfully integrate motion planners to solve CommonRoad scenarios. Our tool is published as an open-source toolbox at commonroad.in.tum.de.