August 25 marks the ninth anniversary of Autoware. TIER IV founder Shinpei Kato started the Autoware project at Nagoya University in 2015 to democratize autonomous driving technology, with the vision of “collaboratively building a better world in which anyone can enjoy the fruits of autonomous driving technology.”
Today, Autoware is a household name in the autonomous driving domain. It was the first all-in-one open-source software for autonomous driving, and as a result, it has drawn tremendous attention, earning 8700+ stars in the Autoware GitHub repository.
Autoware has found widespread and international adoption. It has been used by more than 500 companies and runs on more than 30 vehicle models in more than 20 countries. Interestingly, some heavily funded autonomous technology companies have used Autoware for concept validation before developing proprietary algorithms or technology, while others have preferred to use the entire Autoware system and integrate advanced features and third-party solutions for various autonomous applications. The power of open source has enabled new players to enter the autonomous vehicle market with innovative solutions at a fraction of the cost of developing a complete platform from the ground up.
From its initial release, Autoware has continued to evolve and improve with the longer-term vision of delivering an open platform and ecosystem to bring fully autonomous vehicles that positively impact society. The core functionality of the open-source software has matured to the point where commercial services are now being operated on public roads throughout the world with autonomous vehicles based on Autoware.
Major improvements to Autoware include the development of a modular architecture and APIs with the commercialization of autonomous vehicles in mind, as well as ongoing enhancement of the key autonomy functions, such as perception, prediction, path planning and control. Through these enhancements, Autoware now supports the functionality for full autonomy in the complex scenarios of public-road operational design domains.
In order to develop and validate these advanced capabilities, new and enhanced simulation tools and validation frameworks were created for the Autoware community to develop and test new functionalities. Moreover, significant work has been done by Autoware Foundation (AWF) working groups to improve Autoware’s ease of use, documentation, and collaboration resources and tools.
To demonstrate these capabilities, the AWF took on the challenge of developing a reference design for an autonomous bus and conducting real-world tests in both Europe and Asia. This objective was successfully achieved through the close collaboration of Autoware community members around the world, culminating in public road demonstrations of autonomous buses running Autoware in Istanbul, Turkey, and Taipei, Taiwan.
The AWF has also worked to expand the reach of Autoware through strategic alliances with other industry consortia. A great example of this type of partnership is the work done with the SOAFEE Special Interest Group (SIG) to develop the Autoware Open AD Kit. SOAFEE stands for Scalable Open Architecture for Embedded Edge, and the SOAFEE SIG is working to enable a mixed-critical, cloud-native architecture that can be applied to software-defined vehicles (SDVs).
The Autoware Open AD Kit was the first blueprint of an automotive application implemented in the SOAFEE framework, and continues to be the leading application for implementation, validation and demonstration of advanced SOAFEE functionality, such as supporting mixed-criticality automotive applications with safety requirements.
As Autoware has evolved over time, so has the Autoware Foundation had to evolve to address the needs of the Autoware community. AWF membership has increased steadily, bringing in new partners from all over the world, along with new capabilities and solutions. The role of the foundation has expanded as new working groups have been introduced to address the challenges of developing, validating and scaling safe autonomous vehicles.
In addition to expanding the scope of the technical work being done, the Autoware Foundation has continued to expand strategic alliances and create impactful opportunities for members to participate and promote solutions at autonomous and automotive industry events. With the ever-increasing global membership base, the foundation is developing regional capabilities to address the specific, local market requirements of deploying and operating autonomous vehicles.
A little over one year ago, the AWF launched the Autoware Center of Excellence, which strives to bring together universities from around the world using Autoware for next-generation autonomous driving research and development. Along with resources to facilitate and collaborate on advanced R&D, the Autoware Center of Excellence has enabled platforms and resources for the teaching of autonomous vehicle technology based on Autoware’s open-source software.
The students nurtured today through the Autoware Center of Excellence will become the future entrepreneurs, engineers, and industry leaders who utilize Autoware to deliver innovations that unlock and scale the potential of autonomous vehicles.
Autonomous driving technology continues to advance and Autoware will remain at the forefront of this evolution. The features and functionality of the open-source software will continue to improve, allowing for increasingly complex public road use cases to be addressed.
As the industry grapples with the transition to “AD2.0,” incorporating AI-based features, the open architecture and validation framework of Autoware is enabling the next generation of autonomous driving technology to be quickly integrated into vehicles. Perception, prediction, and path planning are some of the key functions where AI-based reference implementations are being explored.
AWF working groups are also engaging industry leaders to address the challenges of validating the safety of autonomous vehicles. Developing an open framework for system validation, including the assessment of AI-based functions, will be a near-term focus of the Autoware community.
Moreover, as the automotive industry transitions from Level 2+ to Level 3, before arriving at Level 4, the Autoware Open AD Kit built on the SOAFEE open architecture optimized for SDVs will provide OEMs and Tier 1 manufacturers a viable alternative to the expensive proposition of developing in-house solutions from the ground up, or being locked into proprietary black box solutions. The Autoware Foundation plans to develop reference designs specifically tailored to the requirements of passenger vehicles.
Autoware has come a long way from its humble beginnings as a project at Nagoya University. Under the visionary leadership of Shinpei Kato, an open-source ecosystem has been built around the software. Commercial services with Autoware-based autonomous vehicles are launching now and will continue to expand globally over the coming years. We at TIER IV and the Autoware Foundation look forward to achieving the vision of collaboratively building a better world in which anyone can enjoy the benefits of autonomous driving.
Christian John | President of TIER IV North America
CJ leads the business operations and expansion of TIER IV across North America and Europe. As chair of the Autoware Foundation’s strategic planning committee, he is also responsible for growing the Autoware ecosystem through member development, promotion, and strategic initiatives. Before joining TIER IV, CJ was general manager of the automotive telematics business at Intel, overseeing the development of automotive-grade LTE/5G products.
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