Design and Optimization of Electrical/Electronic Architecture for Autonomous Racing Cars Based on Central Gateway and Domain Controllers

Within the Formula Student China championship context, the electronic and electrical system of the race car is subject to exceptionally stringent performance requirements under conventional distributed architectures. However, persistent limitations remain, most notably, wiring harness layouts that become overly intricate and computing resources that are dispersed across units rather than coherently organized. Against this practical engineering backdrop, the present paper advances a domain-oriented architecture built around a “central gateway + domain controller” configuration, through which a hybrid in-vehicle network integrating CAN with Flexible Data-Rate (CAN FD) with automotive Ethernet is constructed. By design, the power domain, execution domain, and information domain are explicitly partitioned, with dual-core redundancy and hardware-level safety loops deployed inside each domain. This architecture increases bandwidth, reduces CPU loading, and improves both system security and scalability, thereby offering a strong engineering reference for autonomous racing vehicles.