An Evaluation of Autonomous Car Simulators and Their Applicability for Supervised and Reinforcement Learning

Martin Holen, Kristian Muri Knausgård, Morten Goodwin

Abstract: Recent advancements in the field of Machine Learning have sprouted a renewed interest in the area of autonomous cars. Companies use different techniques to develop autonomous cars, including buying several vehicles to develop Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), while others use car simulators. Simulators for autonomous cars include a wide variety of different sensors. Some simulators come free or even open-source, while others require to pay for the simulator itself, server time, or each sensor. The quality and focus of each of these vary, with some having LIDAR scanned roads for highly realistic roads, while others have entirely natural and realistic vehicle dynamics.