CAN XL Commercial Hardware: TCAN6062 for Machine Builders

CAN XL has been discussed for years as the next step after Classical CAN and CAN FD. The change in 2026 is that it is no longer only a protocol roadmap. Texas Instruments has introduced the TCAN6062, which it describes as the first commercially available CAN XL transceiver, with production quantities available now.

For machine builders and embedded-system teams, that makes CAN XL a real design option. It still does not mean every CAN FD system should be redesigned. The useful question is where the larger payload and higher data rate remove a real architectural constraint.

What the TCAN6062 brings

TI specifies the TCAN6062 for CAN XL operation at data rates up to 20 Mbit/s, with payloads up to 2,048 bytes per frame. CAN FD carries up to 64 data bytes per frame. That difference matters when a device needs to move larger diagnostic objects, firmware blocks, parameter sets or richer sensor information.

The transceiver also supports CAN FD and CAN signal-improvement-capability operation. TI says its signal-improvement capability can reduce ringing by as much as 80% in complex networks. It also supports FAST transmit and receive modes, 1.8 V to 5 V controller-side I/O, low-power standby and protection intended for demanding embedded applications.

Why the larger payload matters

Most control variables are small, so a 2,048-byte frame is not mainly about sending ordinary I/O faster. The benefit appears when the same embedded system also needs configuration, diagnostics, firmware transfer or other larger data objects.

A 64-byte CAN FD frame can carry plenty of control data, but bigger objects must be segmented. That adds protocol overhead, state handling and recovery logic. CAN XL reduces that fragmentation while keeping a CAN-style arbitration model.

Characteristic	CAN FD	CAN XL	Industrial Ethernet
Payload per frame	Up to 64 bytes	Up to 2,048 bytes	Commonly around 1,500-byte MTU, with larger options in some systems
Data rate	Application-dependent, commonly several Mbit/s in the data phase	Up to 20 Mbit/s with TCAN6062 FAST operation	100 Mbit/s to multi-gigabit depending on physical layer
Typical role	Compact control and diagnostics	Higher-bandwidth embedded control and device data	Plant-wide and high-throughput communications

CAN XL does not replace Ethernet

I would not interpret CAN XL as a reason to pull Ethernet out of a machine. Ethernet remains the better fit when very high throughput, switched architectures, standard IT integration or broad plant-software interoperability are required.

CAN XL is useful precisely because it sits between CAN FD and Ethernet. Some embedded systems need more bandwidth than CAN FD provides but do not need the cost, switching and software stack of Ethernet at every node.

Robotics is an obvious example. A robot may have many distributed joints, drives, condition data and diagnostics. Smart drives, intelligent actuators and HMI subsystems can also benefit when richer device data must coexist with control traffic.

Do not design from the 20 Mbit/s headline alone

The maximum data rate is not the first number I would use when approving a CAN XL architecture. I would start with cycle times, worst-case bus load, cable length, node count, stub lengths, EMC conditions and fault behaviour.

A CAN installation that works comfortably at 500 kbit/s cannot simply be clocked up and expected to behave at 20 Mbit/s. At higher speeds, physical-layer discipline becomes more important. The transceiver, cabling and topology have to be validated as a system.

The current ISO 11898-2:2026 edition specifies the high-speed physical medium attachment layer and includes signal-improvement and FAST modes. That gives design teams a clearer standards basis, but standards compliance does not eliminate validation on the actual machine.

Migration should still be incremental

TI describes the TCAN6062 as backward-compatible with CAN FD and CAN SIC operation. That is useful because industrial platforms rarely change in one generation. A product family may contain legacy CAN nodes, newer CAN FD nodes and selected CAN XL segments for higher-bandwidth functions.

I would keep working CAN FD where it is adequate and introduce CAN XL only where it solves a bandwidth or software-complexity problem. CANS covered the broader migration approach in CAN FD Now, CAN XL Next.

Security remains a separate engineering problem. A faster physical layer does not automatically secure diagnostics, firmware updates or gateway access. The boundary and update strategy still need deliberate design, as discussed in our CAN security and CANsec article.

Where I would consider CAN XL first

Industrial robots and mobile machines needing more sensor and diagnostic bandwidth on distributed embedded nodes.
Smart drives and actuators carrying richer parameter and condition data alongside control traffic.
Embedded HMI systems where larger objects currently require substantial segmentation.
Firmware and configuration distribution across embedded nodes.
Mixed CAN and Ethernet architectures where CAN XL handles embedded communications while Ethernet remains the plant-facing backbone.

I would not change a stable CAN FD machine simply because CAN XL is newer. If the present bus load, diagnostic transfer times and software complexity are acceptable, leave it alone. New technology earns its place when it removes a specific limitation.

What changes in 2026

The main significance of the TCAN6062 is availability. Once production transceivers exist, controller vendors, interface manufacturers and machine builders can move from specification work into real prototype and validation programmes.

CAN XL is therefore becoming a technology worth considering in current product roadmaps, especially for platforms intended to remain in production for many years. It does not replace CAN FD overnight. It adds a useful layer between conventional CAN-based control and Ethernet.

Sources

Engineering support

CANS works on CAN, CAN FD, embedded electronics, machine communications, PLC/SCADA integration and industrial connectivity. If you are deciding whether CAN FD is still sufficient or a new platform should be designed for CAN XL, contact CANS or WhatsApp us.

CAN XL Has Reached Commercial Hardware: What TCAN6062 Means for Machine Builders