点击下方 卡片 ，关注" 自动驾驶之心 "公众号 戳我-> 领取 自动驾驶近30个 方向 学习 路线 >>自动驾驶前沿信息获取 → 自动驾驶之心知识星球 最近自动驾驶的两大前沿方向：VLA和世界模型，已经有明显的融合趋势 。这一想法是十月份看到中科院的 DriveVLA-W0，因此笔者借这个机会分别调研了 VLA 和 World Model 相关的工作，并且思考一下 这二者结合 的可能性。 太长不看版： VLA和世界模型并不冲突，终极目标是一致的。世界模型可以作为数据引擎、闭环引擎，甚至可以参与到VLA 的模型训练过程中，融合是大趋势，落地是我全都要。 经过几周的调研、分析，有了些成果和自己的心得，所以也想理一理，分享给自动驾驶之心的小伙伴们，主 要分为以下几个部分： 输入端：融合多模态感知 VLA的输入整合了视觉、传感器与语言等多模态的信息。核心视觉输入通过多摄像 头图像生成BEV或体素表征，以理解空间结构；传感器（如激光雷达、毫米波雷达）提供几何与动态补充； 语言输入则是关键创新，支持导航指令、交互问答与规则描述，使系统能理解人类意图与常识，构建出超越 传统纯视觉感知的环境理解。 自动驾驶技术诞生到发展至 ...

Core Viewpoint - The integration of Vision-Language Action (VLA) and World Model (WM) technologies is becoming increasingly evident, suggesting a trend towards their unification in the development of autonomous driving systems [2][4][6]. Summary by Sections VLA and WM Integration - Recent discussions highlight that VLA and WM should not be seen as opposing technologies but rather as complementary, with evidence from recent academic work supporting their combined application [2][3]. - The DriveVLA-W0 project demonstrates the feasibility of integrating VLA with WM, indicating a path towards more advanced general artificial intelligence (AGI) [3]. Language and World Models - Language models focus on abstract reasoning and high-level logic, while world models emphasize physical laws and low-level capabilities such as speed perception [3]. - The combination of these models is essential for achieving stronger embodied intelligence, with various academic explorations already underway in this area [3]. Industry Trends and Future Directions - The ongoing debate within the industry regarding VLA and WA is largely a matter of promotional terminology, with both approaches referencing similar technological foundations [6]. - The future of autonomous driving training chains is expected to incorporate VLA, reinforcement learning (RL), and WM, all of which are crucial components [4][6]. Community and Knowledge Sharing - The "Autonomous Driving Heart Knowledge Planet" community aims to provide a comprehensive platform for knowledge sharing among industry professionals and academics, facilitating discussions on technological advancements and career opportunities [9][22]. - The community has gathered over 4000 members and aims to expand to nearly 10,000, offering resources such as learning routes, Q&A sessions, and job referrals [9][22]. Educational Resources - The community offers a variety of educational materials, including video tutorials and detailed learning paths for newcomers and experienced professionals alike, covering topics from end-to-end autonomous driving to multi-sensor fusion [17][23]. - Members can access a wealth of resources, including open-source projects, datasets, and industry insights, to enhance their understanding and skills in the autonomous driving field [23][41].

Core Insights - The article discusses the WorldVLA framework, which integrates Visual Language Action models (VLA) with world models to enhance AI's understanding of the environment [1][4][36] - WorldVLA demonstrates superior performance compared to independent action and world models, showcasing a synergistic effect between the two [2][18] Group 1: Framework Overview - WorldVLA is designed as a unified autoregressive action world model that combines action and image understanding for improved predictive capabilities [4] - The framework utilizes three independent tokenizers for encoding images, text, and actions, optimizing the representation of visual and action data [8] Group 2: Model Performance - Benchmark results indicate that WorldVLA outperforms discrete action models like OpenVLA, even without pre-training, validating its architectural design [19][21] - The model's performance improves with higher image resolutions, with 512x512 pixels showing significant enhancements over 256x256 pixels [22][23] Group 3: Mutual Enhancement - The world model enhances action generation by understanding physical laws and predicting future states based on current actions [14][25] - Conversely, the action model improves the visual understanding of the world model, leading to more contextually relevant actions [17][30] Group 4: Practical Applications - WorldVLA's ability to predict the outcomes of candidate actions aids in optimizing decision-making processes, thereby increasing task success rates [26] - The framework demonstrates practical advantages in complex scenarios, such as successfully executing tasks that pure world models struggle with [32]

Core Insights - The article discusses the development of WorldVLA, a unified framework that integrates Visual Language Action models (VLA) with world models, aimed at enhancing AI's understanding of the world [2][5]. Group 1: Framework and Model Integration - WorldVLA demonstrates significant performance improvements over independent action and world models, showcasing a mutual enhancement effect [3][20]. - The framework combines the capabilities of action models and world models to predict future images and generate actions, addressing the limitations of each model when used separately [5][6]. Group 2: Model Architecture and Training - WorldVLA utilizes three independent tokenizers for encoding images, text, and actions, with a compression ratio of 16 and a codebook size of 8192 [9]. - The model employs a novel attention mask for action generation, allowing for parallel generation of multiple actions while maintaining the integrity of the generated sequence [12][13]. Group 3: Performance Metrics and Results - Benchmark tests indicate that WorldVLA outperforms discrete action models, even without pre-training, with notable improvements in various performance metrics [20][22]. - The model's performance is positively correlated with image resolution, with 512×512 pixel resolution yielding significant enhancements over 256×256 resolution [22][24]. Group 4: Mutual Benefits of Model Types - The integration of world models enhances action models by providing a deeper understanding of environmental physics, which is crucial for tasks requiring precision [26][27]. - Conversely, action models improve the visual understanding capabilities of world models, leading to more effective action generation [18][31].

Core Insights - WorldVLA is a unified framework that integrates Visual Language Action models (VLA) with world models, developed collaboratively by Alibaba DAMO Academy, Lakehead Laboratory, and Zhejiang University [1][4]. Group 1: Framework Overview - The world model predicts future images by understanding actions and images, aiming to learn the underlying physical laws of the environment to enhance action generation accuracy [2]. - The action model generates subsequent actions based on image observations, which not only aids visual understanding but also enhances the visual generation capability of the world model [2]. - Experimental results indicate that WorldVLA significantly outperforms independent action and world models, showcasing a mutual enhancement effect between the two [2][12]. Group 2: Model Architecture - WorldVLA utilizes three independent tokenizers for encoding images, text, and actions, initialized based on the Chameleon model [6]. - The image tokenizer employs a VQ-GAN model with a compression ratio of 16 and a codebook size of 8192, generating 256 tokens for 256×256 images and 1024 tokens for 512×512 images [6]. - The action tokenizer discretizes continuous robot actions into 256 intervals, represented by 7 tokens, including relative positions and angles [6]. Group 3: Training and Performance - WorldVLA employs a self-regressive training approach, where all text, actions, and images are tokenized and trained in a causal manner [8]. - A novel attention mask for action generation ensures that the current action generation relies solely on text and visual inputs, preventing errors from previous actions from affecting subsequent ones [10]. - Benchmark results show that even without pre-training, WorldVLA outperforms the discrete OpenVLA model, validating its architectural design [12]. Group 4: Mutual Benefits of Models - The introduction of the world model significantly enhances the performance of the action model by enabling it to learn the underlying physical laws of the system, which is crucial for tasks requiring precision [15]. - The world model provides predictive capabilities that inform decision-making processes, optimizing action selection strategies and improving task success rates [18]. - Conversely, the action model improves the quality of the world model's output, particularly in generating longer video sequences [21]. Group 5: Expert Opinions - Chen Long, Senior Research Director at Xiaomi Auto, emphasizes that VLA and world models do not need to be mutually exclusive; their combination can promote each other, leading to advancements in embodied intelligence (AGI) [24].

Core Insights - WorldVLA is a unified framework that integrates Visual Language Action Models (VLA) with World Models, proposed by Alibaba DAMO Academy, Lake Lab, and Zhejiang University [1][4] - Experimental results indicate that WorldVLA significantly outperforms independent action models and world models, showcasing a mutual enhancement effect [2] Model Overview - The framework combines three independent tokenizers for encoding images, text, and actions, utilizing a VQ-GAN model for image tokenization with a compression ratio of 16 and a codebook size of 8192 [8] - The action tokenizer discretizes continuous robot actions into 256 intervals, representing actions with 7 tokens [8] Model Design - WorldVLA employs a self-regressive action world model to unify action and image understanding and generation [4] - The model addresses limitations of existing VLA and world models by enhancing action generation accuracy through environmental physical understanding [5][14] Training and Performance - WorldVLA is jointly trained by integrating data from both action models and world models, enhancing action generation capabilities [13] - The model's performance is positively correlated with image resolution, with 512x512 pixel resolution showing significant improvements over 256x256 [21][23] Benchmark Results - WorldVLA demonstrates superior performance compared to discrete OpenVLA models, even without pre-training, validating its architectural design [19] - The model's ability to generate coherent and physically plausible states in various scenarios is highlighted, outperforming pure world models [31][32] Mutual Enhancement - The world model enhances the action model's performance by predicting environmental state changes based on current actions, crucial for tasks requiring precision [25] - Conversely, the action model improves the visual understanding of the world model, supporting better visual generation [17][30]

Core Viewpoint - The article discusses the advancements and differences between Vision-Language-Action (VLA) models and World Models in the context of autonomous driving, emphasizing that while VLA is currently dominant, World Models possess inherent advantages in understanding and predicting physical realities [3][4][30]. Group 1: VLA vs. World Models - VLA currently dominates the market, with over 95% of global models generating videos for autonomous driving training rather than direct application [3]. - World Models are considered to have a significant theoretical advantage as they enable end-to-end learning without relying on language, directly linking perception to action [3][4]. - Proponents of World Models argue that they can understand the physical world and infer causal relationships, unlike VLA, which primarily mimics learned patterns [4][6]. Group 2: Development and Architecture - The World Model framework consists of three main modules: Vision Model (V), Memory RNN (M), and Controller (C), which work together to learn visual representations and predict future states [11]. - The architecture of World Models has evolved, with notable developments like RSSM and JEPA, which focus on combining deterministic and stochastic elements to enhance performance [15][17]. - JEPA, introduced in 2023, emphasizes predicting abstract representations rather than pixel-level details, significantly reducing computational requirements [17][19]. Group 3: Advantages and Challenges - World Models have two main advantages: they require less computational power than VLA and can utilize unlabelled data from the internet for training [19]. - However, challenges remain, such as the need for diverse and high-quality data to accurately understand physical environments, and the limitations of current sensors in capturing all necessary information [19][20]. - Issues like representation collapse and error accumulation in long-term predictions pose significant hurdles for the effective deployment of World Models [21][22]. Group 4: Future Directions - The integration of VLA and World Models is seen as a promising direction, with frameworks like IRL-VLA combining the strengths of both approaches for enhanced performance in autonomous driving [22][28]. - The article suggests that while VLA is likely to prevail in the near term, the combination of VLA with World Model enhancements could lead to superior outcomes in the long run [30].

Core Viewpoint - The article discusses the limitations of traditional Vision-Language-Action (VLA) models and introduces FlowVLA, a new framework that addresses these issues by implementing a Visual Chain of Thought (Visual CoT) principle, enhancing the model's ability to predict future frames through structured physical reasoning rather than mere pixel replication [5][8][36]. Group 1: Background and Current State - VLA models, particularly those pre-trained as world models, show significant potential in the field of general robotics, primarily through large self-regressive Transformers that learn environmental dynamics from vast video data [6][7]. - Existing models face critical flaws, including task confusion leading to prediction failures, knowledge transfer inefficiencies between passive observation and active control, and entangled learning of dynamics and appearance [7]. Group 2: Contributions of FlowVLA - FlowVLA introduces a new learning framework that emphasizes structured physical reasoning by requiring the model to infer motion dynamics before predicting future frames [8][10]. - The model is designed to unify appearance and motion reasoning within a single self-regressive Transformer, maintaining parameter efficiency and architectural simplicity [9][10]. - Experimental results validate FlowVLA's superior performance across various robotic operation benchmarks, demonstrating enhanced sample efficiency and bridging the gap between pre-training and policy fine-tuning [10][20]. Group 3: Research Content - The Visual CoT reasoning process decomposes the frame prediction into a causal chain of "current frame → optical flow → future frame," allowing the model to separate dynamic and appearance learning [12][14]. - The two-phase training paradigm consists of a pre-training phase focused on world model learning and a fine-tuning phase for adapting to control tasks [15][16]. Group 4: Experimental Analysis - FlowVLA outperforms existing methods in the LIBERO dataset across all task sets, particularly excelling in long-term tasks, showcasing its robust understanding of physical dynamics [20][21]. - In the SimplerEnv dataset, FlowVLA demonstrates strong adaptability to visual domain shifts, achieving significant performance improvements in tasks where other models struggle [22][23]. - The model's sample efficiency is validated, requiring only one-third of the training steps to reach peak performance compared to baseline models, with a 55% higher peak success rate in low-data scenarios [30][32]. Group 5: Key Component Validation - Ablation studies on the LIBERO-10 benchmark highlight the importance of the Visual CoT structure, flow loss, and interleaved sequence format, confirming their critical roles in the model's performance [33][34]. Group 6: Comparison with Related Work - FlowVLA distinguishes itself from traditional VLA models by prioritizing dynamic understanding and establishing a robust world model before adapting to control tasks, thus laying a solid foundation for physical knowledge [35].

Core Viewpoint - Alibaba's Damo Academy has introduced WorldVLA, a model that integrates World Model and Action Model into a unified autoregressive framework, enhancing understanding and generation across text, images, and actions [1][4]. Summary by Sections Research Overview - The development of Vision-Language-Action (VLA) models has become a significant focus in robotic action modeling, typically built on large-scale pretrained multimodal language models (MLLMs) with added action output capabilities [4]. - Existing VLA models often lack a deep understanding of actions, treating them merely as output rather than analyzing them as input [5]. Model Description - WorldVLA addresses the limitations of both VLA and World Models by using a unified autoregressive mechanism for action and image understanding and generation [5][10]. - It employs three independent encoders for processing images, text, and action data, sharing the same vocabulary to facilitate cross-modal tasks [12]. Mechanism and Strategy - The World Model component generates visual representations based on input actions, learning the physical dynamics of the environment, while the Action Model enhances visual understanding [7]. - An action attention masking strategy is introduced to mitigate error accumulation during the generation of multiple actions, significantly improving performance in action chunking tasks [8][14]. Experimental Results - In the LIBERO benchmark, WorldVLA achieved a 4% improvement in grasp success rate compared to traditional action models and a 10% reduction in Fréchet Video Distance (FVD) compared to traditional world models [8]. - The introduction of the attention mask strategy led to a performance improvement in grasp success rates ranging from 4% to 23% in action chunking tasks [8]. Comparative Analysis - WorldVLA outperformed other models in various metrics, demonstrating its effectiveness in integrating action and world modeling [18]. - The model's ability to generate the next frame based on actions and images showcases its advanced capabilities in visual prediction [24].

Core Viewpoint - WorldVLA is introduced as a self-regressive action world model that integrates action and image understanding and generation, outperforming independent action and world models through mutual enhancement [4][7][9]. Group 1: Model Definition and Components - WorldVLA combines visual, language, and action (VLA) models with a world model to predict future images based on actions and visual understanding [4][6]. - The model employs three independent tokenizers for images, text, and actions, sharing the same vocabulary for unified cross-modal understanding [7][14]. - The action model generates subsequent actions based on image observations, while the world model predicts future visual states, enhancing decision-making in action models [6][29]. Group 2: Performance and Evaluation - Experiments show that WorldVLA achieves a 4% higher success rate in grasping tasks compared to traditional action models and reduces Fréchet Video Distance (FVD) by 10% compared to standard world models [8][27]. - The attention mask strategy significantly mitigates performance degradation in action sequence generation, improving grasping success rates by 4% to 23% [8][32]. - The model's performance correlates positively with image resolution, indicating that higher resolution provides better visual information for robotic tasks [27]. Group 3: Training Strategy and Data - WorldVLA is trained using a mix of action model data and world model data, enhancing action generation through understanding of environmental physics [16][22]. - The training involves generating actions based on text instructions and image observations, while the world model predicts the next image frame based on current observations and actions [17][18]. - The loss function balances contributions from action and world model data, ensuring effective training despite the disparity in token counts [22]. Group 4: Contributions and Innovations - The introduction of the attention mask strategy allows for independent generation of actions, reducing error propagation in sequential action generation [19][20]. - WorldVLA demonstrates superior performance in generating longer video sequences compared to pure world models, highlighting the benefits of integrating action models [31]. - The model's architecture and training strategies reveal the potential for enhanced task performance through pre-training with world model data [36].