Methods and apparatus relating to heterogeneous compute architecture hardware/software co-design for autonomous driving are described. In one embodiment, a heterogeneous compute architecture for autonomous driving systems (also interchangeably referred to herein as Heterogeneous Compute Architecture or “HCA” for short) integrates scalable heterogeneous processors, flexible networking, benchmarking tools, etc. to enable (e.g., system-level) designers to perform hardware and software co-design. With HCA system engineers can rapidly architect, benchmark, and/or evolve vehicle system architectures for autonomous driving. Other embodiments are also disclosed and claimed.