diff --git a/Tools/autotest/apmrover2.py b/Tools/autotest/apmrover2.py
index f1b60f04a0..1508468726 100644
--- a/Tools/autotest/apmrover2.py
+++ b/Tools/autotest/apmrover2.py
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ def drive_mission(mavproxy, mav, filename):
 
 vinfo = vehicleinfo.VehicleInfo()
 
-def drive_APMrover2(binary, viewerip=None, use_map=False, valgrind=False, gdb=False, frame=None, params=None):
+def drive_APMrover2(binary, viewerip=None, use_map=False, valgrind=False, gdb=False, frame=None, params=None, gdbserver=False):
     """Drive APMrover2 in SITL.
 
     you can pass viewerip as an IP address to optionally send fg and
@@ -140,7 +140,7 @@ def drive_APMrover2(binary, viewerip=None, use_map=False, valgrind=False, gdb=Fa
     util.pexpect_close(mavproxy)
     util.pexpect_close(sitl)
 
-    sitl = util.start_SITL(binary, model='rover', home=home, speedup=10, valgrind=valgrind, gdb=gdb)
+    sitl = util.start_SITL(binary, model='rover', home=home, speedup=10, valgrind=valgrind, gdb=gdb, gdbserver=gdbserver)
     mavproxy = util.start_MAVProxy_SITL('APMrover2', options=options)
     mavproxy.expect('Telemetry log: (\S+)')
     logfile = mavproxy.match.group(1)