Central compute / HPC
The high-performance computer(s) at the heart of a modern E/E architecture, running most vehicle software on a few powerful SoCs.
Central compute — often called the vehicle HPC (high-performance computer) — is the consolidation of most vehicle software onto one or a few powerful onboard computers, built around automotive-grade systems-on-chip from suppliers such as NVIDIA, Qualcomm, Renesas and, increasingly, OEMs’ own silicon programs.
In a centralized E/E architecture, the HPC runs applications that used to be spread across dozens of ECUs: driver assistance, cockpit, connectivity, and growing parts of body and motion control. Zone controllers handle local I/O; the HPC handles the logic.
Centralization is what makes the software-defined vehicle practical. A few powerful computers can host a proper vehicle OS, receive substantial OTA updates, run mixed-criticality workloads under hypervisors, and hold enough performance reserve for features that do not exist yet at the vehicle’s start of production — a key argument OEMs use to justify the hardware cost.
Related: E/E architecture · Middleware (automotive) · Vehicle OS · Zonal architecture