Meet OSCC: The Open-Source Game-Changer for Autonomous Vehicle Development
Table of Content
If you're diving into the world of autonomous vehicles, there's a powerful tool that you need to know about: Open Source Car Control (OSCC) . This innovative platform is changing the game by making vehicle automation more accessible, modular, and developer-friendly.
What Is OSCC?
OSCC is an open-source collection of software and hardware designs that enable computer control of modern cars. It gives developers a low-level interface to interact with a vehicle’s electronic systems, such as steering, throttle, and braking, without hacking ADAS features or altering factory safety mechanisms. Built primarily for the 2014+ Kia Soul (gas and EV), it’s designed to be adaptable to other vehicles too.
Think of it as a bridge between your code and the car’s internal systems. With OSCC, you can send commands, receive real-time feedback from sensors, and even integrate with ROS (Robot Operating System) for advanced robotics applications.
Hazem Abbas
Why Should You Care?
Whether you’re a hobbyist tinkering in your garage or part of a research team building the next breakthrough in self-driving tech, OSCC offers something valuable:
- 🛠️ Modular & Customizable : Each component, brake, throttle, steering, and CAN gateway, runs on its own Arduino-based module. That means you can test and tweak each system independently.
- 🚗 Real-World Ready : Designed with real cars in mind, OSCC works with actual sensor inputs and outputs. You’re not just simulating control—you're controlling the car.
- 🧪 Tested & Safe : Built-in safety checks ensure you don’t accidentally send dangerous commands. Plus, comprehensive unit and property-based tests help keep your system stable and reliable.
- 📦 ROS Integration : If you're using ROS for autonomous driving development, OSCC provides a ready-made ROS node to streamline your workflow.
- 🌍 Open Source : No proprietary black boxes. Everything is transparent, documented, and community-driven. You can inspect, modify, and improve it, and contribute back to the ecosystem.
Hazem Abbas
Who Is OSCC For?
OSCC is perfect for:
- 🎓 Students and Researchers : Use it as a learning platform or as the foundation for academic projects in autonomous systems.
- 🏭 DIY Enthusiasts : Tinkerers who want to experiment with self-driving car components at home.
- 🏢 Startups and Labs : Companies and labs prototyping autonomous solutions without the overhead of building control systems from scratch.
- 🤖 Autonomous Vehicle Developers : Anyone looking to interface with vehicle controls safely and effectively in a real-world setting.
Why OSCC Can Change the Game
The future of mobility depends on innovation — and innovation thrives when tools are open, collaborative, and accessible. By providing a standardized, safe, and extensible framework for vehicle control, OSCC lowers the barrier to entry for autonomous vehicle development.
It empowers developers to focus on what matters: the intelligence behind the wheel, perception, planning, decision-making, while handling the low-level actuation with a solid, tested foundation.
Imagine a world where anyone with an idea can build, test, and iterate on autonomous systems using affordable, off-the-shelf hardware and open-source tools. That’s the future OSCC is helping create.
Ready to Get Started?
Check out the OSCC GitHub repository to explore the docs, download the firmware, and join the growing community of developers pushing the limits of autonomous technology — one line of code at a time.
Got questions or want to contribute? Dive into the wiki, read through the guides, or reach out to the PolySync team at [email protected] .
Important Notice
While active development and official updates for the Open Source Car Control (OSCC) project have slowed significantly over the past 7 to 8 years, the platform continues to be widely used by hobbyists, researchers, and developers in the autonomous vehicle space. Despite the lack of recent commits or releases, OSCC remains a foundational tool for many due to its modularity, open-source nature, and real-world applicability.
The community continues to rely on the existing codebase and documentation, often adapting and extending it for new use cases. Hopefully, renewed interest or contributions may help push the project forward once again, but for now, its legacy as an accessible, by-wire control system toolkit lives on.
Resources & Downloads
PolySync
