MishkaMN commented 1 month ago

PR Details

Description

This PR introduces a new Basic Travel Simulator node to the CARMA Platform. The simulator provides a lightweight way to test and validate the planning stack without requiring full simulation or live vehicle testing. It includes changes to launch files to allow toggling the simulator on/off, and a new README explaining its functionality and usage.

Related GitHub Issue

NA

Related Jira Key

https://usdot-carma.atlassian.net/browse/CAR-6084

Motivation and Context

The Basic Travel Simulator allows developers to quickly identify and address issues in the planning stack, leading to more robust and reliable autonomous driving behaviors. It reduces reliance on full simulation or live testing for basic scenarios, enabling faster development cycles.

How Has This Been Tested?

Tested enabling/disabling the simulator through launch file arguments
Verified the simulator correctly subscribes to planned trajectories and publishes simulated vehicle data
Tested scenarios with insufficient slowdown during turns and successful turns after parameter tuning
Verified integration with existing CARMA Platform components

Types of changes

[ ] Defect fix (non-breaking change that fixes an issue)
[x] New feature (non-breaking change that adds functionality)
[ ] Breaking change (fix or feature that cause existing functionality to change)