1. A collaborative automation platform, comprising: a fault-tolerant control server hosting one or more virtual controllers; a fault-tolerant input/output server hosting a virtual input/output system; a master autonomous process interface system connected to the virtual input/output system, via a local area input/output network; a plurality of distributed autonomous process interface (DAPI) systems connected to the master autonomous process interface system, each DAPI system hardwired to a plurality of field instruments; and real-time data distribution service (DDS) middleware, configured for execution with the fault-tolerant control server, the fault-tolerant input/output server, the master autonomous process interface system, and the plurality of DAPI systems.