Upgradable vehicular computing methods and apparatuses

An apparatus for upgradable vehicular computing, comprising:

• a pluggable compute module having a central processing unit (CPU), one or more other compute elements, power input and supply circuitry, a housekeeping controller, and a configurable input/output (CIO) multiplexer, to mate with an in-vehicle compute hub disposed in a vehicle, through an interconnect, to form an upgradable vehicle compute system for the vehicle;
• wherein the power input and supply circuitry is to receive power from the in-vehicle compute hub, through the interconnect;
• the housekeeping controller is to communicate with the in-vehicle compute hub, through the interconnect, to enable the in-vehicle compute hub to manage the pluggable compute module;
• and the CIO multiplexor is configurable to multiplex inputs from the in-vehicle compute hub or to multiplex outputs to the in-vehicle compute hub, through the interconnect in accordance with one or more I/O protocols.

An apparatus for upgradable vehicular computing, comprising:

• an in-vehicle compute hub to be disposed in a vehicle, and having a power supply, a system management controller, and a plurality of peripheral components, to mate with a pluggable compute module, through an interconnect, to form an upgradable vehicle compute system for the vehicle;
• wherein the power supply is to supply power to the pluggable compute module, through the interconnect;
• the system management controller is to communicate with the pluggable compute module, through the interconnect, to manage the pluggable compute module;
• and the plurality of peripheral components are to provide inputs to the pluggable compute module or to receive outputs from the pluggable compute module, through the interconnect.

A method for upgradeable vehicular computing, comprising:

• disposing an in-vehicle compute hub in a vehicle;
• and
• providing an interconnect to the in-vehicle compute hub to removably receive a pluggable compute module to form an upgradeable vehicle compute system for the vehicle, the interconnect having a fixed section and a configurable section;
• wherein the fixed section includes a dynamic power delivery interface to deliver power from the in-vehicle compute hub to the pluggable compute module, and a management channel to facilitate a system management controller of the in-vehicle compute hub in managing the pluggable compute module;
• and
• wherein the configurable section includes a plurality of configurable input/output (I/O) interfaces to couple and facilitate inputs from one or more peripherals of the in-vehicle compute hub to one or more compute elements of the pluggable compute module, and outputs from the one or more compute elements of the pluggable compute module to the one or more peripherals of the in-vehicle compute hub.