How do you collect CAN data from a vehicle thousands of kilometres away? Our R&D team is working on a new application for the Beijer CAN Interface (BCI) that could provide a solution. An initial real-world test with a customer in Finland has been successfully completed. We regularly receive requests for vehicles that we have not measured before and for which no data is yet available in our CAN database.
When such a vehicle is located in another country, for example, it is not always possible to bring it to our facility or carry out measurements on-site. Until now, this meant that customers needed to have their own CAN probe to collect data from the vehicle.
Our R&D team has therefore been working hard on developing a Beijer CAN Interface that can also function as a CAN probe. This allows customers to easily collect vehicle data on-site, after which our engineers can remotely analyse the collected CAN data and provide a new software version for the BCI. The customer can then update the BCI, enabling it to recognise the vehicle.
What is a CAN probe?
A CAN probe is a diagnostic tool used to measure and analyse signals on a CAN bus (Controller Area Network). It is primarily used for diagnostics, maintenance and product development in the automotive and industrial sectors.
First successful test in Finland
We recently tested this new application in a real-world situation for the first time. A customer in Finland wanted to install a BCI in an Aion V, a vehicle for which the required CAN data was not yet available in our database.
The customer received a BCI equipped with test software. Using our in-house developed CAN analysis tool, uCanAnalyze, we were able to successfully collect and analyse the vehicle’s CAN data remotely and provide a fully functioning BCI on the very same day.
The result was a win-win situation: the Finnish customer was able to deliver the vehicle to their own customer that same day, while the newly collected vehicle data became available for other customers working with the same vehicle model.
Collecting vehicle data remotely, anywhere in the world
This successful test marks an important step forward. By enabling the BCI to function as a CAN probe, we become much less dependent on a vehicle’s physical location when collecting CAN data.
This creates opportunities to expand our CAN database much faster with vehicles from different countries and markets. New vehicle data collected in collaboration with one customer can subsequently benefit other customers as well.
Over the coming months, our R&D team will continue developing and extensively testing this application. Our goal is to make the BCI’s CAN probe functionality available to all our customers in the near future, making it easier to collect new CAN data from vehicles anywhere in the world.
