Docker Architecture

Autoware Image Layers

A visual map of the Docker build chain, runtime chain, and multi-stage copy relationships.

External Base
Build Chain
Runtime Chain
CUDA Variant
Multi-stage COPY
ros:${ROS_DISTRO}-ros-base
External
The official ROS 2 base image. Starting point for all Autoware images.
ros2 official
base
Build
FROM ros:${ROS_DISTRO}-ros-base
Foundation layer with essential tooling, user setup, and middleware configuration.
sudo pipx ansible rmw user:aw gosu
splits into Build & Runtime

Build Chain

core-dependencies
Build
FROM base
Installs and builds all src/core/ dependencies (except autoware_core). Used for autoware_core CI.
ccache rosdep build src/core/ /opt/autoware
core-devel
Build
FROM core-dependencies
Builds autoware_core on top of its dependencies. Developers can mount and develop against this. Can be used by the CI workflows that depend on autoware_core.
rosdep autoware_core build autoware_core /opt/autoware
universe-dependencies
Build
FROM core-devel
Installs ansible roles and rosdep deps for all universe packages from autoware.repos. To be used by autoware_universe CI.
ansible roles rosdep universe
universe-dependencies-cuda
CUDA
FROM universe-dependencies
Adds CUDA development libraries for GPU-accelerated builds. To be used by autoware_universe CI.
CUDA dev
universe-devel
Build
FROM universe-dependencies
Full build of autoware.repos installed into /opt/autoware.
build autoware.repos /opt/autoware
universe-devel-cuda
CUDA
FROM universe-dependencies-cuda
Full build of autoware.repos with CUDA support.
build autoware.repos CUDA /opt/autoware
COPY /opt/autoware → Runtime

Runtime Chain

core
Runtime
FROM base
Lightweight runtime for core packages. Exec-time rosdep deps only.
rosdep exec deps src/core/
COPY from core-devel
universe-runtime-dependencies
Runtime
FROM core
Runtime ansible deps and rosdep exec deps from autoware.repos.
ansible runtime rosdep exec
universe
Runtime
FROM universe-runtime-deps
Final runtime image for Autoware universe. Ready to deploy.
production runtime
COPY from universe-devel
universe-cuda
CUDA Runtime
FROM universe-runtime-deps
GPU-accelerated runtime with CUDA libraries and full Autoware build.
CUDA runtime production
COPY from universe-devel-cuda