Open source mapping tools
SLAM is quite complicated to implement and understand, but fortunately, there are plenty of open source solutions that you can use in your self-driving car. The website Awesome Open Source (https://awesomeopensource.com/projects/slam) has a treasure trove of SLAM algorithms that you can use.
Here is a curated selection to whet your appetite:
- Cartographer by Google (https://github.com/cartographer-project/cartographer)
- LIO-SAM by TixiaoShan (https://github.com/TixiaoShan/LIO-SAM)
- LeGO-LOAM by RobustFieldAutonomy (https://github.com/RobustFieldAutonomyLab/LeGO-LOAM)
Since Cartographer is by far the most popular and supported, you will get to play with and experience all it has to offer in the next section.