Operating the Vehicle#

Before reading this article, please make sure you followed the Software Installation and built the project. The project repository has a launch file autosdv.launch.yaml that defines the set of nodes to be executed and assigned parameters to start the whole driving system.

The Simple Way#

The Makefile has a receipt to start the whole system.

make launch

Customize the Launch#

You can either modify the launch file directly located here:

AutoSDV/src/launcher/autosdv_launch/launch/autosdv.launch.yaml

or assign argument values to the launch command. For example, to use Isaac Visual SLAM for localization:

source install/setup.bash
ros2 launch autosdv_launch autosdv.launch.yaml pose_source:=isaac

Or to run in simulation mode without hardware:

ros2 launch autosdv_launch autosdv.launch.yaml is_simulation:=true

Common Arguments#

Argument	Description	Default
`is_simulation`	Enable simulation mode (disables PWM output to hardware)	`false`
`sensor_suite`	Predefined sensor suite (robin_zed, vlp32c_zed_imu, etc.)	`vlp32c_zed_imu`
`lidar_model`	LiDAR model (cube1, robin-w, vlp32c)	(from suite)
`camera_model`	Camera model (zedxm, usb, none)	(from suite)
`imu_source`	IMU source (mpu9250, zed)	(from suite)
`gnss_receiver`	GNSS receiver type (ublox, septentrio, garmin)	(from suite)
`use_gnss`	Enable GNSS for outdoor operation	(from suite)
`use_ntrip`	Enable NTRIP client for RTK corrections	`true`
`use_mapless_mode`	Enable mapless mode for indoor operation	`false`
`pose_source`	Pose estimation source (ndt, isaac)	`ndt`
`enable_zed_object_detection`	Enable ZED camera object detection	(from suite)
`launch_perception`	Launch perception module (object detection)	`true`

For a complete list of arguments, see the main launch file.

Common Operations#

Autonomous Driving#

Run autonomous driving with waypoint navigation:

make run-drive

This command launches the full system and executes autonomous driving based on poses defined in scripts/testing/drive/poses.json. The vehicle will navigate through the defined waypoints.

Visualization and Monitoring#

Launch RViz for 3D visualization:

make run-rviz

Launch PlotJuggler for real-time data plotting:

make run-plotjuggler

Manual Control#

Launch keyboard-based manual control:

make run-controller

Testing Control System#

Test the basic control system:

make play-basic-control

Run predefined trajectories:

make run-straight-10m  # Drive 10m straight
make run-circle        # Drive in a circle

Recording and Playback#

Record sensor data during outdoor operation:

make record-outdoor

Play back the most recent recording:

make play-outdoor