Acronym · Automotive
HPC (High Performance Computer)
In automotive usage, the central vehicle computer that hosts compute-hungry workloads such as automated driving, infotainment and vehicle-wide services, usually built around multi-core SoCs with an AI accelerator and running a hypervisor.
- Also known as
- Vehicle HPC, Central compute unit
- Type
- Acronym
- Domain
- Automotive, E/E architecture
Notes
Automotive HPC means something entirely different from datacentre HPC, a frequent source of confusion in industry reports.
Overview
In automotive use, HPC (high-performance computer) means a central vehicle computer that runs the most demanding software in a car, such as automated driving, the digital cockpit and vehicle-wide services, in place of many separate control units. It is usually built around one or more powerful SoCs with AI accelerators, and often runs several operating systems under a hypervisor.
How it works
Traditional vehicles spread functions across dozens of electronic control units, each with its own microcontroller and software. Newer electrical and electronic architectures group functions by domain or by physical zone and concentrate processing in a few powerful computers. Zonal controllers near the sensors and actuators handle input, output and power distribution, while one or more central computers do the heavy processing.
A vehicle HPC combines multi-core application processors, GPUs or neural processing units for perception, safety islands for ASIL-rated functions, high-speed networking such as automotive Ethernet, and large amounts of memory. Software is partitioned so that safety-relevant functions and infotainment can share the hardware without interfering with each other, and the platform is designed to receive software updates over the air throughout the vehicle's life.
This shift underpins the software-defined vehicle, where features are increasingly delivered and improved through software rather than new hardware. Suppliers such as Bosch offer vehicle computers ranging from cockpit and driver-assistance platforms to central computers.
Examples
- A central computer running driver-assistance perception on an AI accelerator next to a cockpit operating system.
- A zonal architecture with four zone controllers feeding one or two central computers over automotive Ethernet.
- A vehicle network processor combining ASIL D safety cores with network acceleration.
- An over-the-air update that adds a new driver-assistance feature to cars already on the road.
Why it matters
The vehicle HPC is where much of the value and silicon content of future cars concentrates, and it drives demand for automotive SoCs built on advanced nodes. Automotive SoC architects, functional safety engineers, hypervisor and embedded software engineers, and system architects at carmakers and suppliers all work on it, and its design sets the car's software platform for years.
Related terms
Part of the Automotive glossary, with every term in the topic and the lifecycles, tools and standards that use them.
Where it appears on the Hub
Used on 45 pages of the Hub. In each group, the pages that mention it most come first.
Roles
Skills
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Last reviewed . Written by The Semiconductor Hub editorial team. The full glossary