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microsoft/AirSim

An open-source simulator built on Unreal Engine for drones, cars and other autonomous vehicles, with APIs for AI and computer vision research.

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What is it?

AirSim is a simulator for drones, cars and other autonomous vehicles, built as a plugin for Unreal Engine that can be added to any Unreal environment. An experimental Unity version is also available. It supports software-in-the-loop simulation with flight controllers such as PX4 and ArduPilot, and hardware-in-the-loop simulation with PX4.

The project is aimed at AI research, letting developers experiment with deep learning, computer vision and reinforcement learning for autonomous vehicles. It exposes platform-independent APIs for retrieving sensor data and controlling vehicles, with clients available in C++, Python, C# and Java.

Besides programmatic control, AirSim includes manual driving with a remote control or arrow keys, a data recording mode for capturing pose and images, and a Computer Vision mode that collects depth, segmentation and surface normal images from free-moving cameras without physics.

Key features

  • 01Unreal Engine plugin that can be dropped into existing environments
  • 02Software-in-the-loop simulation with PX4 and ArduPilot
  • 03Hardware-in-the-loop simulation with PX4
  • 04Client APIs in C++, Python, C# and Java for retrieving data and controlling vehicles
  • 05Computer Vision mode for capturing depth, segmentation and surface normal images

Use cases

  • Training deep learning or reinforcement learning policies for drones and self-driving cars before real-world testing
  • Generating labeled camera datasets with depth and segmentation ground truth
  • Testing flight controller code in simulation before deploying to a physical vehicle

Quick start

  1. 1

    Download precompiled binaries from the releases page

  2. 2

    Or build it from source following the platform build guide

Things to know

  • Runs as a plugin for Unreal Engine, so you need Unreal Engine set up to use it.
  • macOS has build-from-source instructions only, with no precompiled binaries listed.
  • The Unity plugin is experimental.

In collections

Game development tools & enginesComputer vision libraries & toolsReinforcement learning frameworks & training environmentsRobotics & embodied AI projects

Topics

#simulation#autonomous-vehicles#drones#unreal-engine#reinforcement-learning#computer-vision#px4#ai#airsim#artificial-intelligence

FAQ

What is AirSim?
An open-source simulator built on Unreal Engine for drones, cars and other autonomous vehicles, with APIs for AI and computer vision research. AirSim is a simulator for drones, cars and other autonomous vehicles, built as a plugin for Unreal Engine that can be added to any Unreal environment. An experimental Unity version is also available. It supports software-in-the-loop simulation with flight controllers such as PX4 and ArduPilot, and hardware-in-the-loop simulation with PX4.
Is AirSim free to use? What license does it have?
AirSim is open source under the Other license. Check the license terms before using it in commercial products.
Is AirSim still maintained?
Updated within 6 months. The last commit to AirSim was on Sep 15, 2026.
What can I use AirSim for?
Training deep learning or reinforcement learning policies for drones and self-driving cars before real-world testing Generating labeled camera datasets with depth and segmentation ground truth Testing flight controller code in simulation before deploying to a physical vehicle
How do I install AirSim?
Download precompiled binaries from the releases page Or build it from source following the platform build guide
Where can I get AirSim?
The source code and installation instructions are on GitHub: https://github.com/microsoft/AirSim

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