Bosch C_CAN and D_CAN Controller Area Network controllers
Bosch's C_CAN and D_CAN controller IP blocks, embedded in many industrial and automotive SoCs since the 2000s — notably Texas Instruments Sitara parts like the AM335x and AM437x families, plus older Intel Atom E6xx platforms. They provide the CAN bus interface used in factory automation, motor control, and embedded vehicle electronics.
recommendation
It should stay because the hardware is still being shipped in 2025: TI continues to sell AM3358 and AM4378 SoCs as active parts with this CAN block, and TI's current Processor SDK still documents and validates the Linux DCAN driver on multiple evaluation boards. Upstream maintenance is healthy, with bug-fix patches landing through late 2024 and a treewide CAN API cleanup touching the driver in October 2025. There is no drop-in replacement, since newer Bosch m_can silicon is a separate IP block on different chips.
repository signals
sources
- lore.kernel.org
Recent non-mechanical maintenance continued in late 2024 with a c_can bug-fix patch updating bus-error statistics.
- lore.kernel.org
The driver received a fix in 2024 referencing the original Bosch C_CAN support commit, indicating active maintenance rather than abandonment.
- lore.kernel.org
The most recent 2025 touch was a CAN treewide API cleanup, not a c_can removal or deprecation series.
- ti.com
TI still listed AM3358 as ACTIVE and the product page advertises up to two CAN ports and Linux support, showing new-sale hardware using this IP in 2025.
- ti.com
TI still listed AM4378 with up to two CAN ports, showing the same Bosch-derived CAN block remains present in currently sold industrial SoCs.
- software-dl.ti.com
TI's current Processor SDK Linux documentation still documents the DCAN Linux driver and validates it on multiple EVMs including AM335x, AM437x, 66AK2Gx, AM571x, DRA74x, and DRA72x.
codex reasoning notes (technical)
Local shell inspection of Kconfig identified the family as Bosch C_CAN/D_CAN and showed platform/PCI support, including TI boards and Intel Atom E6xx IOH. lore_activity and lore_file_timeline on drivers/net/can/c_can/c_can_main.c showed sustained upstream traffic through 2024-10 to 2025-10, with real bug-fix patches plus a later treewide CAN API cleanup; the attempted lore_regex removal search timed out, and no removal evidence was found in the returned lore activity. Web search located TI product pages for AM3358 and AM4378, both current pages showing CAN-capable ACTIVE parts, plus TI's latest Processor SDK DCAN documentation with validated EVMs. That combination points to continued industrial/embedded deployment and ongoing maintenance, so this should be kept; there is no true drop-in replacement driver for existing C_CAN/D_CAN silicon, only newer unrelated Bosch CAN IP such as m_can on different hardware.