Since the first car was built by Daimler Benz, cars have only ever gotten more complicated. In modern cars a vast array of modules, sensors, and motors provide many of the creature comforts, smooth operation of the cars systems, and a margin of safety. But as these systems expanded with new technologies a few problems arose. The number of sensors (oftentimes redundant), signal integrity, and the sheer complication of the network of connections and wiring needed to run everything properly.
...
But What is CAN?
...
CAN bus was a communication protocol introduced by Robert Bosch GmbH in the 1980’s, but it wasn’t really adopted heavily in automotive use until the late 90’s. By 2006 70% of cars utilized CAN communication, and all vehicles sold in the United States after 2008 were required to follow the CAN BUS Protocol. This method of building an automotive network works well for a few reasons. CAN Bus offers a secure method of transmitting the information with very minimal signal interference from things like electro-magnetic waves. It also enables multiple modules to use the same sensors and information allowed to all of the other modules reducing redundancy. Lastly it simplifies the wiring, only two wires need to be run to the module or system in question rather than individually wiring each sensor to each module.
...