Roadway VR GitHub

Open source · SUMO ↔ Unity

Bring realistic SUMO traffic into Unity and VR.

SUMO2Unity connects traffic behaviour from Eclipse SUMO with an interactive Unity environment—giving researchers a practical foundation for 3D visualization, driver simulation, and human-in-the-loop road-safety studies.

Watch the setup tutorial Download latest release
  • 0.10 sdata exchange cycle
  • 3D + VRresearch environments
  • MITopen-source code
01 Traffic logic
02 Immersive scene
Side-by-side SUMO traffic simulation and Unity 3D road environment
Live co-simulation Vehicle coordinates and signal states move between SUMO and Unity.

The workflow

One traffic model. Two connected environments.

SUMO continues to model vehicle movement and traffic rules. Unity turns the same traffic into an interactive 3D environment where a participant can observe—or join—the simulation.

  1. 01

    Simulate in SUMO

    Build the road network, traffic demand, signals, car-following behaviour, and lane-changing logic.

    Traffic engine
  2. 02

    Exchange live data

    Synchronize vehicle coordinates and signal timing between the two environments at each simulation step.

    Co-simulation bridge
  3. 03

    Experience in Unity

    Visualize the network in 3D or connect a driver, bicycle, scooter, or VR participant to the traffic scene.

    Interactive environment

What it enables

From network simulation to human experience.

Use one connected workflow to preserve realistic traffic interactions while investigating what a person sees, decides, and does inside the simulated environment.

Watch the one-minute demo
01

3D traffic visualization

Translate a SUMO road network into a Unity scene with roads, vehicles, buildings, trees, and traffic signals.

02

Human-in-the-loop experiments

Place a participant in a driver, bicycle, scooter, or virtual-reality simulator surrounded by SUMO-generated traffic.

03

Traffic-safety research

Study road-user behaviour across traffic conditions while retaining car-following, lane-changing, and signal-control logic.

04

Digital-twin applications

Combine a controllable traffic model with an immersive interface for demonstrations, education, and scenario assessment.

Step-by-step video Open on YouTube ↗

Start here

Get the complete workflow running.

The current project guidance uses SUMO 1.22 and Unity Editor 6000.0.53f1. Follow the three guides in order, then open the downloaded project in Unity Hub.

  1. 1
    Prepare SUMO

    Install Eclipse SUMO and configure the required Windows environment variables.

    Follow the RoadwayVR SUMO guide →
  2. 2
    Prepare Unity

    Install Unity Hub, the recommended editor version, Visual Studio, and its Unity dependencies.

    Watch the Unity preparation guide ↗
  3. 3
    Open SUMO2Unity

    Download the project, extract it, add it in Unity Hub, and follow the setup video.

    Download the latest release ↗

Research foundation

Built for reproducible traffic-safety research.

The open-source implementation is accompanied by peer-reviewed work describing the original co-simulation tool and its extended virtual-reality traffic-safety application.

IEEE IV · 2024 Conference paper

SUMO2Unity: An Open-Source Traffic Co-Simulation Tool to Improve Road Safety

A. Mohammadi, P. Y. Park, M. Nourinejad, M. S. B. Cherakkatil, and H. S. Park

View paper by DOI
Applied Sciences · 2025 Open access

An Open-Source Virtual Reality Traffic Co-Simulation for Enhanced Traffic Safety Assessment

A. Mohammadi, M. S. B. Cherakkatil, P. Y. Park, M. Nourinejad, and A. Asgary

Read the open-access article

Common questions

Before you download.

Technical problems and feature requests belong in the GitHub issue tracker, where they remain visible to the project community.

Ask on GitHub
What is SUMO2Unity?

SUMO2Unity is an open-source traffic co-simulation project that connects Eclipse SUMO with Unity. SUMO supplies traffic behaviour and signal states while Unity provides the 3D or virtual-reality environment.

What can researchers use it for?

Typical applications include 3D traffic visualization, driver and cyclist simulator studies, VR experiments, human-in-the-loop simulation, traffic-safety assessment, and digital twins.

Is SUMO2Unity free?

Yes. The project code is distributed under the MIT License. Included assets are distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution license; review the repository for the current licensing details.

Does it currently simulate pedestrians?

The current repository documentation says pedestrians are not included. Check the latest release notes and issues for project updates.

Ready to explore the project?

Start with the guided setup, then build your own scenario.

Download SUMO2Unity View source on GitHub