CAN vs other network infrastructure

[apacheguy]

Edit: protocol rather than infrastructure is what I meant

Been reading lots on what CAN means and what it does in our cars. Not sure I understand why it's the industry standard, tho. What are the primary advantages of a CAN bus over connecting car components to a simple Ethernet hub and operate over TCP/IP?

I understand that all components on a single bus are addressed together. In other words, every component on the bus sees the same message that is broadcast, but only specific components respond to a CAN ID. Ok, so that's a little different than TCP/IP, where you have individually addressable nodes, but I'm not sure I see how that's an advantage.

 

[Oba]

CAN existed long before internet... plus, for emissions, it's written in law.

 

[apacheguy]

Right. So no real advantage other than it predates other comms protocols? Tesla could in theory ditch CAN as they are not legally bound by emissions regs I suppose.

 

[FlasherZ]

Right. So no real advantage other than it predates other comms protocols? Tesla could in theory ditch CAN as they are not legally bound by emissions regs I suppose.

Could, in theory - the challenge is that Tesla would end up having to redesign many subsystems in the car with other vendors. There are a lot of supplier parts in the car developed by others - they'd have to find replacements speaking IP who could deliver to their quantities. Since the automotive industry adopted CAN, there's an amazing amount of inertia there, and they'd likely have to go with a lot of small, new suppliers willing to build the stuff specifically for them.