CAN bus
also: CAN · CAN FD · Controller Area Network
A robust two-wire network built for vehicles and machines, letting many controllers share prioritized messages reliably in electrically noisy environments.
CAN connects multiple controllers (in a vehicle, e-bike, robot, battery pack or industrial machine) over a twisted pair using differential signaling. Every message carries a priority, and the bus's arbitration scheme lets the highest-priority message through without collisions. Built-in error detection and fault confinement make it dependable under noise and vibration. The protocol is standardized in ISO 11898.
Classical CAN carries up to 8 data bytes per frame at up to 1 Mbit/s. CAN FD (flexible data rate) raises the payload to 64 bytes and speeds up the data phase of each frame; the newer CAN XL extends this further. Higher-layer protocols such as CANopen and J1939 define what the messages mean.
Where it bites: the bus topology (a single line terminated at both ends, with short stubs) must be respected, and the message ID plan becomes a long-lived interface contract between subsystems and suppliers.
Founder takeaway
If several boards in your product must talk reliably, consider CAN early and document the message map as a versioned interface.
engineer review pending