Carla is a sophisticated computer program that acts like a brain for self-driving cars. Just like you have a brain to control your body and make decisions, Carla's purpose is to help self-driving cars function properly and make smart choices on the road.
Imagine you are playing with a toy car, but instead of using your hands to move it, the car can move by itself. It has sensors that can "see" the world around it, just like our eyes can see the room we are in. These sensors include things like cameras, radar, and lidar.
Carla's job is to take the information from these sensors and use it to understand the world around the self-driving car. Just like you use your eyes and ears to understand the world around you, Carla uses the data from these sensors to know where the car is, what other cars are nearby, and the road conditions.
But Carla doesn't just sit there and observe. It also helps the car make decisions, just like how our brain tells us what to do. For example, if there is a stop sign ahead, Carla will recognize it and tell the car to stop. If another car is coming from the left side, Carla will tell the car to wait until it's safe to go.
Carla is really smart because it has been trained by very clever engineers who have programmed it with lots of information about how to drive safely. They have taught Carla to understand traffic rules, road signs, and how other cars behave.
But just like you, Carla is always learning and getting better. It often interacts with its environment and collects more data about how to drive well. This helps it become even smarter over time, just like how you get better at playing a game the more you practice.
So, in summary, Carla is a computer program that acts like a brain for self-driving cars. It helps the car "see" the world around it, understand what's happening, and make smart choices on the road. Its purpose is to make sure self-driving cars drive safely and get to their destinations without any problems.