Hardware systems for an autonomous vehicle

A system comprising:

• a first set of sensors;
• a second set of sensors;
• a third set of sensors;
• a computing system, the computing system configured to implement primary autonomy functionalities;
• a sensor data aggregator, the sensor data aggregator configured to receive and to process a first set of sensor data from the first set of sensors and a second set of sensor data from the second set of sensors, the sensor data aggregator further being configured to forward the processed first set of sensor data and the processed second set of sensor data to the computing system;
• and
• a plurality of switches including a first switch and a second switch, the first switch being coupled to the computing system and the sensor data aggregator, the second switch being coupled to the computing system and the sensor data aggregator, the first switch being configured to forward a third set of sensor data generated by the third set of sensors to the sensor data aggregator and to the computing system, the second switch being configured to forward a fourth set of sensor data generated by the third set of sensors to the sensor data aggregator and to the computing system.

An apparatus arranged to be included in a vehicle, the apparatus comprising:

• a plurality of sensors;
• a computing system, the computing system configured to implement primary autonomy functionalities in the vehicle;
• a sensor data aggregator configured to obtain and to process a first set of sensor data from the plurality of sensors, the sensor data aggregator further being configured to obtain and to process a second set of sensor data from the plurality of sensors, the sensor data aggregator still further being configured to forward the processed first set of sensor data and the processed second set of sensor data to the computing system;
• and
• a first switch, the first switch being coupled to the computing system and the sensor data aggregator, the first switch being configured to forward a third set of sensor data generated by the plurality of sensors to the sensor data aggregator and to the computing system, the third set of sensor data including at least a portion having a pulse-per-second (PPS) synchronization scheme, wherein the first switch is further configured to convert the at least portion of the third set of sensor data to a precision time protocol (PTP) synchronization scheme.