#5050th of 56 in ML frameworks and libraries

carla

Autonomous driving simulator built on Unreal Engine 5.5 with a Python API

Documentation ↗ Website ↗ Repository on GitHub ↗

Stars: 14.5k
License: MIT
Last commit: Oct 2026
Last release: Sep 2025
Language: C++

Missed the latest GitHub check; these facts may be older.

Overview

CARLA is a simulator for developing, training and validating autonomous driving systems. It ships open urban maps, buildings and vehicles, and lets you configure sensor suites and weather through a Python API. This branch (ue5-dev) targets Unreal Engine 5.5 and must be built from source against the CARLA fork of Unreal Engine.

Who it is for: Autonomous driving researchers needing a sensor-level simulator

Strengths

Open assets (maps, vehicles, buildings) included, code MIT and assets CC-BY
Configurable sensor suites and environmental conditions, driven through a Python API
Ecosystem repos for ROS bridge, Scenario_Runner, Autoware bridge and a driving leaderboard
Optional ROS2 support via the -DENABLE_ROS2=ON CMake flag

Weaknesses

Heavy hardware: 32 GB+ RAM and an RTX 3070-class GPU with 16 GB+ VRAM recommended
Build needs GitHub-linked Epic Games access to the Unreal Engine 5.5 fork
UE5.5 build supports only Ubuntu 22.04/24.04 and Windows 11; Ubuntu 20.04 and Windows 10 unsupported
Parallel ue4-dev branch has significant differences; last release dated 2025-09-16

What it needs

RAM ≥ 32 GB
GPU required
Needs Unreal Engine 5.5 (CARLA fork), CMake, Ninja, Python 3, Visual Studio 2022 (Windows), PROJ, Xerces-C, Eigen

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How to choose

Pick the framework your target models and papers already use.
Check hardware support (CUDA, ROCm, Apple Silicon, TPU) for your machines.
Look at release cadence; a framework that stalls strands your code.

Health

Releases: Not checked
Top contributor: Not checked
Security advisories: Not checked
Package advisories: Not checked
OpenSSF Scorecard: Not checked

Not read for this project yet: each refresh reads the facts of a few projects. Bots and coding-agent accounts are left out of the commit counts. Not part of the score: how we check.

License in plain words

MIT Permissive

Use it at work: Yes
Change it and rebrand it: Yes
Sell it or host it for others: Yes

Your part: Keep the copyright and license notice in copies you ship.

A plain summary, not legal advice. Read the license on GitHub ↗ (opens in a new tab)

Where to run it

Vast.ai ↗ (opens in a new tab)Rent a GPU by the hour from a marketplace of hosts.

Referral links: if you sign up through one, we get a commission. They never change a rank.

#50 of 56 in ML frameworks and libraries on Archestack, as of 15 Oct 2026.

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