Renesas R-Car and RZ on-chip CAN and CAN FD controllers
Controller Area Network interfaces built into Renesas R-Car automotive SoCs and RZ-family microprocessors, covering both classic CAN and the newer CAN FD variant. These chips are widely used in cars (ADAS, body control, infotainment) and in industrial gateways and robotics, where CAN is the standard bus for talking to motors, sensors, and other embedded controllers.
recommendation
It should stay in the kernel because Renesas continues to ship these SoCs as current products and the driver is still being actively maintained and extended upstream. Patches landed in 2026 added support for the new RZ/T2H part and fixed bus-off recovery, and Renesas guarantees availability of relevant chips like the RZ/G2L through 2037, with R-Car V4H winning fresh automotive design-ins such as a Toyota RAV4 ADAS unit. No other kernel driver covers these on-SoC CAN blocks.
repository signals
sources
- lore.kernel.org
`rcar_can.c` still received upstream net-next maintenance in April 2026, indicating the classic R-Car CAN driver remains live.
- lore.kernel.org
`rcar_canfd.c` received a functional Bus-Off recovery fix in April 2026, showing active bug-fix traffic rather than retirement.
- lore.kernel.org
A 2026 patch adds RZ/T2H support to `rcar_canfd`, showing the driver is being extended for newer Renesas parts, not phased out.
- renesas.com
Renesas lists RZ/G2L as Active with product longevity to 2037 and CAN/CAN-FD interfaces, evidencing ongoing new-hardware availability.
- renesas.com
Renesas announced in February 2026 that R-Car V4H was selected for a Toyota RAV4 ADAS control unit, indicating current automotive deployment of the broader R-Car family.
codex reasoning notes (technical)
Keep: this is an active Renesas SoC CAN driver directory, with two real platform drivers (`CAN_RCAR`, `CAN_RCAR_CANFD`) confirmed from local Kconfig/source inspection via `exec_command`. Upstream activity was checked with `lore_file_timeline` on both `rcar_can.c` and `rcar_canfd.c`; results showed 2026 maintenance plus a new-support patch for RZ/T2H, so there is no evidence of obsolescence or removal momentum. Deployment evidence came from web search on renesas.com showing Active RZ/G2L CAN-FD MPUs with longevity through 2037 and a 2026 R-Car V4H automotive design win. No natural upstream replacement covers the same Renesas on-SoC CAN/CAN-FD blocks, so replacement_driver is null.