An apparatus for controlling and operating an autonomous vehicle, the apparatus comprising: a chassis housing a plurality of compartments, including a control server compartment, a compute server compartment, and an input and output, IO, subsystem compartment; an IO subsystem inserted into the IO subsystem compartment, the IO subsystem having a plurality of IO modules, wherein at least some of the IO modules are to be coupled to one or more sensors, wherein the IO subsystem compartment is configured in a substantially vertical orientation, and the IO subsystem is inserted vertically into the IO subsystem compartment from a top end of the chassis, wherein the IO subsystem compartment is configured as a vertical tunnel extended from the top end of the chassis to a bottom end of the chassis, the top end and bottom end of the chassis including a top opening and a bottom opening respectively to expose a frontend and a backend of the IO subsystem, wherein a back side of the vertical tunnel formed as a part of the backend of the chassis further comprises an opening to expose a first side panel of the IO subsystem; a compute server inserted into the compute server compartment, wherein the compute server is adapted to receive the sensor data from the IO subsystem via a plurality of Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) links and to generate planning and control data based on the sensor data for controlling the autonomous vehicle; and a control server inserted into the control server compartment and coupled to the compute server via an Ethernet connection, wherein the control server is adapted to control and operate the autonomous vehicle by sending a plurality of control commands to hardware of the autonomous vehicle based on the planning and control data received from the compute server, wherein the first side panel of the IO subsystem comprises a first set of PCIe connectors (212A, 212B) to allow the IO subsystem to be coupled to the compute server via one or more PCIe link cables; and a frontend of the compute server further comprises a second set of PCIe connectors (203A, 203B) to be coupled to the first set of PCIe connectors using the PCIe link cables. a chassis housing a plurality of compartments, including a control server compartment, a compute server compartment, and an input and output, IO, subsystem compartment; an IO subsystem inserted into the IO subsystem compartment, the IO subsystem having a plurality of IO modules, wherein at least some of the IO modules are to be coupled to one or more sensors, wherein the IO subsystem compartment is configured in a substantially vertical orientation, and the IO subsystem is inserted vertically into the IO subsystem compartment from a top end of the chassis, wherein the IO subsystem compartment is configured as a vertical tunnel extended from the top end of the chassis to a bottom end of the chassis, the top end and bottom end of the chassis including a top opening and a bottom opening respectively to expose a frontend and a backend of the IO subsystem, wherein a back side of the vertical tunnel formed as a part of the backend of the chassis further comprises an opening to expose a first side panel of the IO subsystem; a compute server inserted into the compute server compartment, wherein the compute server is adapted to receive the sensor data from the IO subsystem via a plurality of Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) links and to generate planning and control data based on the sensor data for controlling the autonomous vehicle; and a control server inserted into the control server compartment and coupled to the compute server via an Ethernet connection, wherein the control server is adapted to control and operate the autonomous vehicle by sending a plurality of control commands to hardware of the autonomous vehicle based on the planning and control data received from the compute server, wherein the first side panel of the IO subsystem comprises a first set of PCIe connectors (212A, 212B) to allow the IO subsystem to be coupled to the compute server via one or more PCIe link cables; and a frontend of the compute server further comprises a second set of PCIe connectors (203A, 203B) to be coupled to the first set of PCIe connectors using the PCIe link cables.