Implementation:CARLA simulator Carla VehicleLightState

Knowledge Sources	CARLA
Domains	Vehicle Systems, RPC Serialization
Last Updated	2026-02-15 05:00 GMT

Overview

VehicleLightState is an RPC-serializable class that represents the state of a vehicle's lights using a bitmask flag system, covering position lights, beams, blinkers, brake lights, and special lights.

Description

Defined in the carla::rpc namespace (~109 lines), this class uses a uint32_t bitmask (flag_type) to represent which lights are active. The LightState enum defines the following flags:

None (0x0): all lights off
Position (0x1): position/parking lights
LowBeam (0x2): low beam headlights
HighBeam (0x4): high beam headlights
Brake (0x8): brake lights
RightBlinker (0x10) / LeftBlinker (0x20): turn signals
Reverse (0x40): reverse lights
Fog (0x80): fog lights
Interior (0x100): interior lights
Special1 (0x200) / Special2 (0x400): special lights (e.g., sirens)
All (0xFFFFFFFF): all lights on

Helper macros SET_FLAG and FLAG_ENABLED are provided for bitwise operations. The class supports UE4 conversion via FVehicleLightState.

Usage

Use this type to get or set the light state of vehicles in the simulation via the CARLA client API.

Code Reference

Source Location

Repository: CARLA
File: LibCarla/source/carla/rpc/VehicleLightState.h

Signature

namespace carla {
namespace rpc {

  class VehicleLightState {
  public:
    using flag_type = uint32_t;

    enum class LightState : flag_type {
      None = 0, Position = 0x1, LowBeam = 0x2,
      HighBeam = 0x4, Brake = 0x8,
      RightBlinker = 0x10, LeftBlinker = 0x20,
      Reverse = 0x40, Fog = 0x80, Interior = 0x100,
      Special1 = 0x200, Special2 = 0x400,
      All = 0xFFFFFFFF
    };

    VehicleLightState() = default;
    VehicleLightState(LightState light_state);
    VehicleLightState(flag_type light_state);

    LightState GetLightStateEnum() const;
    flag_type GetLightStateAsValue() const;

    flag_type light_state = static_cast<flag_type>(LightState::None);

    MSGPACK_DEFINE_ARRAY(light_state);
  };

} // namespace rpc
} // namespace carla

Import

#include "carla/rpc/VehicleLightState.h"

I/O Contract

Flag	Hex Value	Description
None	0x0	All lights off
Position	0x1	Position/parking lights
LowBeam	0x2	Low beam headlights
HighBeam	0x4	High beam headlights
Brake	0x8	Brake lights
RightBlinker	0x10	Right turn signal
LeftBlinker	0x20	Left turn signal
Reverse	0x40	Reverse lights
Fog	0x80	Fog lights
Interior	0x100	Interior lights
Special1	0x200	Special (e.g., sirens)
Special2	0x400	Special lights
All	0xFFFFFFFF	All lights on

Usage Examples

#include "carla/rpc/VehicleLightState.h"

using LS = carla::rpc::VehicleLightState::LightState;

// Turn on headlights and brake lights
carla::rpc::VehicleLightState lights;
lights.light_state = static_cast<uint32_t>(LS::LowBeam) |
                     static_cast<uint32_t>(LS::Brake);

vehicle->SetLightState(lights);

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