external_cmd_converter

external_cmd_converter is a node that converts desired mechanical input to acceleration and velocity by using accel/brake map.

Algorithm

How to calculate reference acceleration and velocity

A reference acceleration and velocity are derived from the throttle and brake values of external control commands.

Reference Acceleration

A reference acceleration is calculated from accel_brake_map based on values of a desired_pedal and a current velocity;

\[pedal_d = throttle_d - brake_d,\] \[acc_{ref} = Acc(pedal_d, v_{x,current}).\]

Parameter	Description
$throttle_d$	throttle value of external control command (~/in/external_control_cmd.control.throttle)
$brake_d$	brake value of external control command (~/in/external_control_cmd.control.brake)
$v_{x,current}$	current longitudinal velocity (~/in/odometry.twist.twist.linear.x)
Acc	accel_brake_map

Reference Velocity

A reference velocity is calculated based on a current velocity and a reference acceleration:

\[v_{ref} = v_{x,current} + k_{v_{ref}} \cdot \text{sign}_{gear} \cdot acc_{ref}.\]

Parameter	Description
$acc_{ref}$	reference acceleration
$k_{v_{ref}}$	reference velocity gain
$\text{sign}_{gear}$	gear command (~/in/shift_cmd) (Drive/Low: 1, Reverse: -1, Other: 0)

Input topics

Name	Type	Description
~/in/external_control_cmd	tier4_external_api_msgs::msg::ControlCommand	target throttle/brake/steering_angle/steering_angle_velocity is necessary to calculate desired control command.
~/input/shift_cmd"	autoware_vehicle_msgs::GearCommand	current command of gear.
~/input/emergency_stop	tier4_external_api_msgs::msg::Heartbeat	emergency heart beat for external command.
~/input/current_gate_mode	tier4_control_msgs::msg::GateMode	topic for gate mode.
~/input/odometry	navigation_msgs::Odometry	twist topic in odometry is used.

Output topics

Name	Type	Description
~/out/control_cmd	autoware_control_msgs::msg::Control	ackermann control command converted from selected external command

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
ref_vel_gain_	double	reference velocity gain
timer_rate	double	timer’s update rate
wait_for_first_topic	double	if time out check is done after receiving first topic
control_command_timeout	double	time out check for control command
emergency_stop_timeout	double	time out check for emergency stop command

Limitation

tbd.

Changelog for package autoware_external_cmd_converter

0.53.0 (2026-09-29)

• Merge remote-tracking branch 'origin/main' into prepare-0.53.0-changelog

• feat(external_cmd_converter): apply agnocast_wrapper::Node to external_cmd_converter (#13014)

  * feat(external_cmd_converter): apply agnocast_wrapper::Node to external_cmd_converter Co-authored-by: Koichi Imai <<koichi.imai.2@tier4.jp>>

  • fix: cppcheck
  • refactor: revert comment
  • refactor: revert comment
  • refactor: remove qos
  • refactor: migrate to polling AIP
  • style(pre-commit): autofix
  • fix: clang format
  • refactor: subscriber

  * style(pre-commit): autofix ---------Co-authored-by: Koichi Imai <<koichi.imai.2@tier4.jp>> Co-authored-by: pre-commit-ci-lite[bot] <117423508+pre-commit-ci-lite[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>

• fix(vehicle): declare the dependencies these packages use (#13208)

  * fix(vehicle): declare the dependencies these packages use Four packages use headers or symbols of packages that they never declare. Add the 10 missing entries: 8 <depend> and 2 <test_depend>.

  * fix(vehicle): declare the script runtime dependencies and tf2 The review of the first commit found nine more missing entries. autoware_steer_offset_estimator uses tf2::Quaternion and tf2::Vector3 in an installed header and in the library code, so it gets <depend>tf2</depend>. The installed Python scripts of autoware_accel_brake_map_calibrator import rclpy, ament_index_python, numpy, and yaml, and its launch file starts rviz2. The installed plot script of autoware_raw_vehicle_cmd_converter imports ament_index_python, matplotlib, and numpy. These get <exec_depend> entries. ---------

• refactor(vehicle): move node design files into each package (#13098) Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <<noreply@anthropic.com>>

• Contributors: Mete Fatih Cırıt, Ryohsuke Mitsudome, Taekjin LEE, Yutaro Kobayashi

0.52.0 (2026-06-30)

0.51.0 (2026-05-01)

0.50.0 (2026-02-14)

0.49.0 (2025-12-30)

0.48.0 (2025-11-18)

0.47.1 (2025-08-14)

0.47.0 (2025-08-11)

0.46.0 (2025-06-20)

0.45.0 (2025-05-22)

0.44.2 (2025-06-10)

0.44.1 (2025-05-01)

0.44.0 (2025-04-18)

• Merge remote-tracking branch 'origin/main' into humble

• feat: manual control (#10354)

  • feat(default_adapi): add manual control
  • add conversion
  • update selector
  • update selector depends
  • update converter
  • modify heartbeat name
  • update launch
  • update api
  • fix pedal callback
  • done todo
  • apply message rename
  • fix test
  • fix message type and qos
  • fix steering_tire_velocity

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