In-Vehicle Networking and the Role CAN (Controller Area Network) Will Play in Meeting Present and Future Requirements

Automotive electronics will enter a third era in the 1990's. A myriad of new electronics will be linked together via in-vehicle networks that will form a mixture of centralized and distributed systems. During the last two years, much work has been done defining the requirements for in-vehicle networking. We are already seeing a few implementations, in production or near production as automakers seek to verify the implementations “against the requirements.

In 1987, Intel introduced CAN (Controller Area Network), an in-vehicle network implementation, jointly with Robert Bosch GmbH. Today this product is in the final stages of production readiness. This paper will review the requirements for in-vehicle networks, describe the CAN implementation, and address future issues and direction which must be addressed prior to large deployment of in-vehicle networks.