On the communication network inside vehicles

Complex systems in modern vehicles (for safety, driving assistance, entertainment etc.) use many information sources that transfer data through data networks and process it in one or more microcontrollers that are placed in different parts of the vehicle. This means that the communication network that is to be developed has to be reliable and must ensure the proper transfer speed according to the priority and importance of each message. There are more protocols developed by car manufacturers and designed for specific applications that will be mentioned in this article, but the main focus will be on the CAN protocol, that ensures the optimal balance between cost and data speed, and is now the most use one for in-vehicle networking.