Drivora: A Unified and Extensible Infrastructure for Search-based Autonomous Driving Testing

Read full text
Authors: Mingfei Cheng, Lionel Briand, Yuan Zhou
Cited by: 0
References: 9

Abstract

Search-based testing is critical for evaluating the safety and reliability of autonomous driving systems (ADSs). However, existing approaches are often built on heterogeneous frameworks (e.g., distinct scenario spaces, simulators, and ADSs), which require considerable effort to reuse and adapt across different settings. To address these challenges, we present Drivora, a unified and extensible infrastructure for search-based ADS testing built on the widely used CARLA simulator. Drivora introduces a unified scenario definition, OpenScenario, that specifies scenarios using low-level, actionable parameters to ensure compatibility with existing methods while supporting extensibility to new testing designs (e.g., multi-autonomous-vehicle testing). On top of this, Drivora decouples the testing engine, scenario execution, and ADS integration. The testing engine leverages evolutionary computation to explore new scenarios and supports flexible customization of core components. The scenario execution can run arbitrary scenarios using a parallel execution mechanism that maximizes hardware utilization for large-scale batch simulation. For ADS integration, Drivora provides access to 12 ADSs through a unified interface, streamlining configuration and simplifying the incorporation of new ADSs. Our tools are publicly available at https://github.com/MingfeiCheng/Drivora.

Fields of Study & Subjects

Autonomous Vehicle Technology and Safety Software Testing and Debugging Techniques Safety Systems Engineering in Autonomy

Publication details

Journal / source
IEEE/ACM International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE)
Pages
29–33
Publication date
12 April 2026