AutoDRIVE Teleop

autodrive_teleop.py is a small Qt-based teleoperation dashboard for AutoDRIVE RoboRacer and F1TENTH-compatible ROS stacks.

It publishes steering and throttle commands from the keyboard, displays basic race telemetry, can show the front camera feed, and can switch between Autonomous Drive and Manual Drive mode. Manual Drive mode publishes native AutoDRIVE command topics by default, with optional F1TENTH-compatible sensor_msgs/Joy output.

Features

• Qt Widgets dashboard with keyboard control.
• ROS 1 and ROS 2 support from the same script.
• Native AutoDRIVE command output:
  • <namespace>/throttle_command
  • <namespace>/steering_command
  • /autodrive/reset_command
• Autonomous Drive and Manual Drive modes with native AutoDRIVE command output.
• Optional F1TENTH-compatible sensor_msgs/Joy output.
• Optional front camera preview from sensor_msgs/Image.
• Optional lap time, last lap, best lap, speed, and collision count display.
• Configurable vehicle namespace and telemetry topics.
• Configurable label displayed in the top-left corner of the dashboard.
• Smooth throttle and steering ramping.

Requirements

You need Python 3, one supported Qt binding, and either ROS 1 or ROS 2 Python packages available in your shell.

Supported Qt bindings:

• PyQt5
• PySide6
• PySide2

ROS message dependencies:

• sensor_msgs
• std_msgs

For ROS 1, the script imports rospy.

For ROS 2, the script imports rclpy.

Installation

Clone the repository:

git clone <your-repo-url> autodrive_teleop
cd autodrive_teleop

Install a Qt binding if your environment does not already provide one:

python3 -m pip install PyQt5

Make the script executable:

chmod +x autodrive_teleop.py

Source your ROS environment before running the tool.

ROS 2 example:

source /opt/ros/humble/setup.bash
./autodrive_teleop.py --ros 2

ROS 1 example:

source /opt/ros/noetic/setup.bash
./autodrive_teleop.py --ros 1

Basic Usage

Start AutoDRIVE RoboRacer simulator and bridge first, then run:

./autodrive_teleop.py

By default, the script targets ROS 2 and the vehicle namespace:

/autodrive/roboracer_1

The default AutoDRIVE command topics are:

/autodrive/roboracer_1/throttle_command
/autodrive/roboracer_1/steering_command
/autodrive/reset_command

If you are building or running the autonomous driving side with AutoDRIVE, treat /autodrive/deadman_switch as the required authority signal:

1. Subscribe to /autodrive/deadman_switch.
2. Publish steering_command and throttle_command only while the value is true.
3. Stop publishing those command topics while the value is false; AutoDRIVE Teleop is in Manual Drive mode and will send the manual commands instead.

Use a different vehicle namespace with --namespace:

./autodrive_teleop.py --ros 2 --namespace /autodrive/roboracer_sagolyuksu

Use --label to display a custom string in the top-left corner of the dashboard. The default label is Roboracer 1:

./autodrive_teleop.py --ros 2 --label "Roboracer 1 - F1TENTH Model"

This is especially useful when running multiple RoboRacer instances. Assign a label that identifies the software or model used by each instance so that the dashboard windows can be distinguished at a glance:

./autodrive_teleop.py \
  --ros 2 \
  --namespace /autodrive/roboracer_1 \
  --label "Pure Pursuit"

./autodrive_teleop.py \
  --ros 2 \
  --namespace /autodrive/roboracer_2 \
  --label "RL Model"

The AutoDRIVE bridge or simulator must subscribe to the same command topics. If your bridge is hard-coded to /autodrive/roboracer_1, update the bridge config or use ROS remapping.

Window Settings

The dashboard stores window geometry and UI state in .autodrive_teleop.ini next to the script by default. Set AUTODRIVE_TELEOP_SETTINGS to write the settings file somewhere else, such as a host-mounted path when running in a throwaway container.

Controls

Click the teleop window first so it has keyboard focus.

Key	Action
Up arrow	Forward throttle
Down arrow	Reverse throttle
Left arrow	Steer left
Right arrow	Steer right
Space	Stop throttle and steering
R	Stop and publish AutoDRIVE reset command
A	Toggle Autonomous Drive/Manual Drive output mode
Escape	Quit

Throttle and steering return toward zero when the arrow keys are released.

Autonomous Drive Mode

Autonomous Drive mode publishes only the drive-state extension topic:

/autodrive/deadman_switch = true

It does not publish teleoperation throttle or steering commands in this mode. This prevents AutoDRIVE Teleop from mixing zero-valued commands with an autonomous driving stack that owns the native AutoDRIVE command topics.

Example:

./autodrive_teleop.py \
  --ros 2 \
  --mode autonomous \
  --namespace /autodrive/roboracer_1

AutoDRIVE Teleop's Extension Topics

autodrive_teleop.py publishes an additional std_msgs/Bool drive-state topic:

/autodrive/deadman_switch

The value indicates which side currently has control:

Value	Meaning
true / 1	Autonomous Drive mode
false / 0	Manual Drive mode

This is an AutoDRIVE Teleop extension topic for autonomous driving software built on the AutoDRIVE Devkit. A controller can subscribe to /autodrive/deadman_switch and publish to /autodrive/roboracer_1/throttle_command and /autodrive/roboracer_1/steering_command only while the value is true. When the value is false, AutoDRIVE Teleop is in Manual Drive mode and owns the teleoperation command output.

Manual Drive Mode

Manual Drive mode changes /autodrive/deadman_switch to false and publishes the teleoperation command output. By default, it uses the native AutoDRIVE command topics:

<namespace>/throttle_command
<namespace>/steering_command

Use --f1tenth only when you want F1TENTH-compatible sensor_msgs/Joy output instead of AutoDRIVE command messages.

Output topic:

• ROS 1: /vesc/joy
• ROS 2: /joy

Joy output mapping:

Joy field	Value
axes[1]	throttle
axes[3]	steering
buttons[4]	1
buttons[5]	0

Display control input is read from F1TENTH Ackermann command topics:

• ROS 1: /vesc/low_level/ackermann_cmd_mux/output
• ROS 2: /drive
• Message type: ackermann_msgs/AckermannDriveStamped

Start directly in Manual Drive mode:

./autodrive_teleop.py --ros 2 --mode manual

Or force F1TENTH-only publishing:

./autodrive_teleop.py --ros 2 --f1tenth

--f1tenth prevents native AutoDRIVE command publishing in Manual Drive mode. This is useful when you only want Joy output for a F1TENTH stack.

Telemetry Topics

If not specified, telemetry topics are resolved from --namespace.

Option	Default
--camera-topic	<namespace>/front_camera
--speed-topic	<namespace>/speed
--lap-time-topic	<namespace>/lap_time
--last-lap-topic	<namespace>/last_lap_time
--best-lap-topic	<namespace>/best_lap_time
--collision-count-topic	<namespace>/collision_count

Example with custom telemetry:

./autodrive_teleop.py \
  --ros 2 \
  --namespace /autodrive/roboracer_1 \
  --camera-topic /camera/image_raw \
  --speed-topic /vehicle/speed

The camera panel supports common image encodings such as rgb8, bgr8, rgba8, bgra8, and mono8.

Command Rate And Ramping

The command publish rate defaults to 20 Hz:

./autodrive_teleop.py --rate 30

Native AutoDRIVE command output applies a throttle scale so the direct Float32 command path is less aggressive by default:

./autodrive_teleop.py --autodrive-throttle-scale 0.35

You can also adjust the native steering scale:

./autodrive_teleop.py --autodrive-steering-scale 0.8

Throttle and steering ramp speed can be adjusted:

./autodrive_teleop.py --throttle-step 1.0 --steer-step 1.8

Ramp values are in normalized command units per second. Keyboard input is clamped to the range [-1.0, 1.0], then native AutoDRIVE scale factors are applied before publishing.

Useful Examples

ROS 2 AutoDRIVE RoboRacer:

./autodrive_teleop.py --ros 2 --namespace /autodrive/roboracer_1

ROS 1 AutoDRIVE bridge:

./autodrive_teleop.py --ros 1 --namespace /autodrive/roboracer_1

ROS 2 F1TENTH-compatible Joy output:

./autodrive_teleop.py --ros 2 --mode manual --f1tenth

ROS 1 F1TENTH-compatible VESC Joy output:

./autodrive_teleop.py --ros 1 --mode manual --f1tenth

Custom RoboRacer namespace:

./autodrive_teleop.py --ros 2 --namespace /autodrive/roboracer_sagolyuksu

Troubleshooting

If the window opens but the vehicle does not move, check the command topics:

ros2 topic list
ros2 topic echo /autodrive/roboracer_1/throttle_command

or for ROS 1:

rostopic list
rostopic echo /autodrive/roboracer_1/throttle_command

If Qt is missing, install one supported binding:

python3 -m pip install PyQt5

If ROS imports fail, make sure the correct ROS setup file is sourced in the same terminal where you run the script.

If the keyboard does not control the car, click the teleop window once to give it focus.

TODO for next version

• Make the AutoDRIVE Devkit read /autodrive/deadman_switch.
• Add /autodrive/teleop/steer_command and /autodrive/teleop/throttle_command.
• In Manual Drive mode, make the AutoDRIVE Devkit forward the teleop command topics to the simulator.

The next version should follow this direction so autonomous driving stacks do not need to integrate directly with AutoDRIVE Teleop.