CARLA simulator
CARLA is an open-source autonomous driving simulation platform built on Unreal Engine, providing sensor models, digital assets, and scenario tools for AV developers, academic researchers, and defense contractors. It is maintained by two non-profits and funded through an industry consortium.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2017
- HeadquartersBarcelona, Spain
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What CARLA simulator does
CARLA is an open-source simulator for autonomous driving research, providing digital assets (urban layouts, buildings, vehicles), sensor models (RGB, depth, semantic segmentation, LIDAR, RADAR, IMU, GPS), and a Python API for controlling traffic, pedestrians, weather, and actors. The platform is built on Unreal Engine in two maintained versions (UE 4.26 and UE 5.5) and supports a server multi-client architecture that distributes simulation across multiple GPUs and nodes. CARLA serves academic researchers, autonomous vehicle developers (OEMs, Tier 1 suppliers, AV startups), and defense contractors. Key named users include Neya Systems (Applied Research Associates) for DARPA's Triage Challenge off-road autonomy work and Synkrotron for mining autonomy scenarios.
The technology stack integrates with ASAM OpenDRIVE for map definition, native ROS/ROS2 for robotics, SCENIC 3 for probabilistic scenario generation, and an expanding set of NVIDIA ecosystem technologies (Omniverse Cloud APIs, NuRec neural reconstruction, Cosmos Transfer1 style transfer, SimReady USD assets). Third-party AI integrations include Inverted AI for generative traffic simulation. Supporting tools include Traffic Manager for NPC behavior, ScenarioRunner for traffic scenarios, Digital Twin Tool v2 for OpenStreetMap-based environment generation, and Procedural Building Tool for parametric urban construction. The CARLA Leaderboard 2.0 and CVPR Autonomous Grand Challenge provide a benchmarking venue with SENSORS and MAP tracks.
CARLA is maintained by two non-profit organizations: the Computer Vision Centre (CVC) at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and the Embodied AI Foundation in California. The core product is freely available under open-source licensing on GitHub. Revenue is generated through consortium memberships (board members include NVIDIA, Toyota Research Institute, Intel, Synkrotron, Futurewei, and others), premium support packages, software development services, and consulting engagements. No public pricing or revenue figures are disclosed.
CARLA simulator firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- CARLA simulator
- Legal name
- Centre de Visió per Computador
- Website
- https://carla.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2017
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- CARLA is an open-source autonomous driving simulation platform built on Unreal Engine, providing sensor models, digital assets, and scenario tools for AV developers, academic researchers, and defense contractors. It is maintained by two non-profits and funded through an industry consortium.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
CARLA simulator industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Autonomous Driving Simulation Software
- NAICS
- Software Publishers (5132), Computer Systems Design Services (541512)
- SIC
- Services-Prepackaged Software (7372), Services-Computer Integrated Systems Design (7373)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Robot Software, Autonomy Stacks & Simulation (ROS, digital twins) (HDAAAIAK)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Autonomy Software, AI & Mission Management (UAS/UXV) (IMABAIAH)
Keywords
Where CARLA simulator is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Barcelona
- HQ country
- Spain
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices2 records
Markets served
CARLA simulator business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Infrastructure, Operations, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- Open-source Free Distribution: CARLA simulator and all associated assets (urban layouts, buildings, vehicles) are freely available for download and use under open-source licensing. No revenue is generated from the core simulator.
- Consortium Membership: Organizations can join the CARLA consortium to steer and guide the CARLA roadmap, align project with specific needs, attend monthly updates, and get direct access to the CARLA team. Benefits include advertising in all CARLA materials.
- Software Development Services: CARLA team provides software development services as a service. Organizations can request features fully tailored to their needs, receive personalized training, and integrate strategic tools and solutions.
- Premium Support: Organizations can purchase premium support packages receiving highest priority treatment, direct support from CARLA team, flexible communication channels including private discord channels, and co-supervised programming sessions.
- Consulting Services: CARLA team offers consulting services for autonomous driving solutions with direct contact to pioneer researchers and engineers, and experts in simulation, evaluation, rendering, AI and perception.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Others | Open-source CARLA Simulator - Free download and use |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels10 records
CARLA simulator product offering
Product offeringCore offering
CARLA Simulator is an open-source autonomous driving research platform that provides freely available digital assets (urban layouts, buildings, vehicles), a rich sensor suite (cameras, LIDAR, RADAR, IMU, GPS), flexible Python API control over traffic, pedestrians, weather and actors, and ASAM OpenDRIVE-compliant maps. It supports scalable server multi-client architecture and is built on Unreal Engine 4.26 and 5.5, enabling development, training, and validation of autonomous driving systems across academic research, AV development, and defense applications.
Product overview
CARLA Simulator is an open-source autonomous driving research platform built on a modular architecture. The core product is the CARLA Simulator itself, which provides digital assets, sensor simulation, and environmental control. Supporting modules include ROS/ROS2 interfaces for robotic integration, the Traffic Manager for NPC control, ScenarioRunner for traffic scenario definition, and Digital Twin/Procedural Building tools for environment generation. The platform integrates NVIDIA technologies (Cosmos Transfer1, NuRec, SimReady, Omniverse) for enhanced rendering and asset management, Inverted AI for generative traffic simulation, and SCENIC for probabilistic scenario definition. Additional offerings include the CARLA Leaderboard for benchmarking, the OASIS Sim platform from Synkrotron for GUI-based workflow, and the CARLA Catalogue for asset browsing. Two versions coexist: Unreal Engine 4.26 (latest 0.9.16) and Unreal Engine 5.5 (latest 0.10.0).
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- CARLA Simulator Open-source autonomous driving research simulator providing freely available digital assets (urban layouts, buildings, vehicles), flexible sensor suite configuration, environmental conditions control, ASAM OpenDRIVE-compliant maps, and full control of static and dynamic actors via a Python API. Supports scalable server multi-client architecture on Unreal Engine 4.26 and 5.5. Used by academic researchers, AV developers, and defense contractors for development, training, and validation of autonomous driving systems.
- CARLA Leaderboard (Leaderboard 2.0) Benchmarking platform for evaluating autonomous driving systems. Hosts the CARLA Autonomous Driving Challenge (CVPR) with multiple tracks, routes, and traffic scenarios, used by teams worldwide to submit, compare, and rank autonomous driving agent performance.
- CARLA Consortium Membership Recurring enterprise membership allowing organizations to steer and guide the CARLA roadmap, align the project with specific needs, attend monthly updates, gain direct access to the CARLA team, and be advertised in all CARLA materials. Includes NVIDIA, Toyota Research Institute, Intel, Mercedes-Benz, Samsung, Huawei, Valeo, Foretellix, Futurewei, Synkrotron and others.
- Premium Support Package Paid enterprise support offering highest-priority treatment, direct support from the CARLA team, flexible communication channels including private Discord channels, and co-supervised programming sessions for organizations running CARLA in mission-critical AV programs.
- Software Development Services Custom feature development delivered by the CARLA team. Organizations can request features fully tailored to their needs, including strategic tool integration and personalized training for enterprise AV programs.
- Consulting Services Consulting engagement providing direct contact to CARLA's pioneer researchers and engineers with expertise in simulation, evaluation, rendering, AI, and perception for autonomous driving solutions.
Quantifiable outcome
- LLM4AD team achieved score of 6.9 in SENSORS track of Leaderboard 2.0, 23% ahead of nearest competitor
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use CARLA simulator
Customer profileNamed customers2 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
CARLA simulator technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration16 records
AI capability9 records
Feature18 records
CARLA simulator partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
13 partnerships are on record, tiered core.
- Inverted AIcoreIntegration with Inverted AI provides state-of-the-art generative AI traffic simulation. Inverted AI's traffic simulation delivers reactive, realistic human-like behavior for NPCs in CARLA simulations, accessible via web-based Python API.
- NVIDIAcoreCARLA 0.10.0 integrates NVIDIA NuRec neural reconstruction technology for neural rendering pipeline, enabling realistic rendering from arbitrary viewpoints. NVIDIA SimReady assets support enables export to Omniverse ecosystem.
- Neya Systems (Applied Research Associates)coreCollaboration between CARLA team and Neya Systems to upgrade CARLA simulator to Unreal Engine 5. Motivation is ARA's requirements for developing Virtual Testbed for DARPA's Triage Challenge. Neya Systems uses CARLA for stress testing off-road vehicle autonomy before field tests.
- NVIDIA OmniversecoreNVIDIA Omniverse Cloud APIs integration announced at GTC 2024. Third-party developers can add sensor models to CARLA ecosystem through Omniverse APIs, enriching the simulator's capabilities and narrowing gap between virtual and real worlds.
- SynkrotroncoreSynkrotron joined CARLA consortium as sponsor. CTO Dr. Yuxi Pan joined consortium board. Synkrotron provided open-cast mine map and mining assets. OASIS Simulation Platform built on CARLA enables GUI-based simulation management and cloud job processing.
- NVIDIAcoreNVIDIA joined the CARLA consortium as a member. CARLA open-source simulator connects to NVIDIA Omniverse, expanding access to simulation-ready content. Integration with NVIDIA Omniverse Cloud APIs announced at GTC 2024 for enhanced sensor simulation capabilities.
- Computer Vision Centre (CVC)coreComputer Vision Centre (CVC) is one of two non-profit organizations comprising the CARLA team. Based in Barcelona, international workforce collaborates on CARLA development.
- Embodied AI FoundationcoreEmbodied AI Foundation is one of two non-profit organizations comprising the CARLA team. Located in California, contributes to development from legal/organizational standpoint and to AI, ML, simulation and robotics technologies.
- ROS (Robot Operating System)coreCARLA is provided with integration with ROS via ros-bridge. Native ROS2 support is now built into CARLA server, negating need for bridge process.
- AutowarecoreCARLA provides Autonomous Driving baseline as runnable agent including AutoWare agent. Integration allows users to run Autoware autonomous driving stack in CARLA simulation.
- VectorZero RoadRunnercoreUsers can create custom maps for CARLA using VectorZero's RoadRunner following ASAM OpenDRIVE standard. Free RoadRunner licenses available for academic research.
- ASAM OpenDRIVEcoreCARLA's map representation is built on ASAM OpenDRIVE standard, allowing for easy-to-use and versatile navigation API and compatibility with external map creation tools.
- SCENICcoreCARLA 0.10.0 and later fully support SCENIC version 3 for scenario definition, allowing probabilistic scenario generation from single definitions.
Scale indicators5 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
CARLA simulator competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Foretellix: Scenario-based AV verification and validation platform. Also a CARLA consortium member. Comparable coverage of scenario definition, coverage-driven testing, and metrics for ADAS/AV.
- Applied Intuition: Commercial AV simulation and development tools company serving OEMs and Tier 1s. Competes with CARLA on enterprise-grade simulation, sensor modeling, and scenario-based testing.
- IPG Automotive: Provider of CarMaker and TruckMaker simulation platforms for ADAS/AV development. Comparable in delivering driving simulation, sensor models, and scenario testing for automotive OEMs.
- Parallel Domain: Synthetic data platform for AV/ML training with procedurally generated environments. Comparable in delivering large-scale, diverse simulation data for perception training.
- Cognata: Commercial AV/ADAS simulation platform offering photorealistic synthetic environments and traffic scenarios. Directly competes with CARLA in enterprise AV development.
- Microsoft AirSim: Microsoft's open-source simulator for drones, cars, and other vehicles built on Unreal Engine. Closest direct open-source analog to CARLA, with overlap in autonomy research and sensor simulation.
- NVIDIA DRIVE Sim: NVIDIA's commercial AV simulation platform built on Omniverse. Directly competes with CARLA for AV simulation workloads; notably, NVIDIA is also a CARLA consortium member, blurring partner/competitor lines.
- rFpro: High-fidelity driving simulation software used by OEMs and racing teams. Comparable in delivering physics-grade vehicle dynamics and sensor simulation, with a more commercial/enterprise focus.
- MathWorks Automated Driving Toolbox: MATLAB/Simulink-based simulation environment for ADAS and AV development. Comparable in providing scenario generation, sensor modeling, and integration with control algorithms.
Others
- Synkrotron: OASIS Sim platform is built directly on top of CARLA, providing GUI-based simulation management and cloud execution. Functions as both a strategic CARLA consortium member and a complementary layer rather than a competitor.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat6 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
CARLA simulator social profiles
Digital presenceCARLA simulator financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
CARLA simulator leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
CARLA simulator funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
CARLA simulator M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about CARLA simulator
What does CARLA simulator do?
CARLA Simulator is an open-source autonomous driving research platform that provides freely available digital assets (urban layouts, buildings, vehicles), a rich sensor suite (cameras, LIDAR, RADAR, IMU, GPS), flexible Python API control over traffic, pedestrians, weather and actors, and ASAM OpenDRIVE-compliant maps. It supports scalable server multi-client architecture and is built on Unreal Engine 4.26 and 5.5, enabling development, training, and validation of autonomous driving systems across academic research, AV development, and defense applications.
Is CARLA simulator a public or private company?
CARLA simulator is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was CARLA simulator founded?
CARLA simulator was founded in 2017. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is CARLA simulator based?
CARLA simulator is headquartered in Barcelona, Spain, in the Europe region.
How does CARLA simulator make money?
Five revenue lines are on record. Open-source Free Distribution is the primary driver. The others are consortium Membership, software Development Services, premium Support and consulting Services.
Who are CARLA simulator's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Foretellix, Applied Intuition, IPG Automotive, Parallel Domain, Cognata, Microsoft AirSim, NVIDIA DRIVE Sim, rFpro and MathWorks Automated Driving Toolbox. Synkrotron is listed as an others.
Does CARLA simulator have an API?
Yes. CARLA provides a Python API that allows users to control all aspects of the simulation, including traffic generation, pedestrian behaviors, weather, sensors, vehicle control, map waypoints, and actor management. The API enables spawning actors, attaching sensors, controlling vehicles, retrieving sensor data, and modifying simulation parameters. The Python API is shipped with each release. Developer documentation is at carla.readthedocs.io/en/latest/python_api.
What industry is CARLA simulator in?
CARLA simulator's product category is Autonomous Driving Simulation Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HDAAAIAK, Robot Software, Autonomy Stacks & Simulation (ROS, digital twins), with a secondary code of IMABAIAH, Autonomy Software, AI & Mission Management (UAS/UXV). Its NAICS code is 5132 and its SIC code is 7372.