High-Performance Computers

For the future-proof E/E architecture of commercial vehicles

Digitalization and data-based services are the key to increasing efficiency and meeting future regulatory requirements for vehicles and fleets. They are becoming a direct competitive factor because the conflicting priorities of safety, environmental regulations and total cost of ownership become even more acute over a vehicle’s lifetime.

Innovative E/E architectures make the vehicle – and consequently the fleet – fit for the future. At the architectural heart are central, high-performance computers (HPCs) that take the computing and brainpower away from the electronic control units that are common today. There are many advantages here: The control units developed at great expense to implement new vehicle functions can be dispensed with. Simple I/O modules used in the E/E architecture at nodes support these high-performance computers.

Software is used to upload the functional logic to the HPCs. E/E architecture becomes clearer, more modular and open for easy-to-implement (and thus economical) functional updates, so vehicles remain state-of-the-art and competitive throughout their entire service lives.

Intelligently designed E/E architectures distribute the overall load to a small number of high-performance computers. All thematically related functions can be combined on dedicated HPCs, separated by domains such as ADAS (A-HPC), Body (B-HPC) and Cockpit (C-HPC). The I/O substructure remains unchanged.

• Introduction to the design concept of the functional/software-defined vehicle
• Forms the basis for the megatrend of vehicle digitalization
• Makes the entire vehicle architecture and functional scope of the vehicle modular, scalable, efficiently expandable and maintainable over the vehicle’s entire lifetime.
• A safe investment in the future: Legal requirements can be economically met by function updates throughout a vehicle’s lifetime
• New trends such as highly automated driving or big data business can be tackled more efficiently; adding new functions to a ‘tidy’ architecture becomes easier.

• HPCs at the heart of an innovative E/E architecture: server-oriented E/E design
• Support through simple I/O modules deployed at nodes that function as data hubs
• Elimination of the numerous, function-specific, complex electronic control units developed at great expense: decoupling of hardware and software
• Reduction of complexity across the entire E/E architecture: fewer control units, less cabling
• Entry into the megatrend of the software-defined vehicle: Function updates are integrated via software and also over-the-air
• Enables the agile development of a significantly reduced time-to-market of new vehicle functions