The core competence of an oscilloscope is that it can capture and show you details of those infrequent automotive transients and noise that could be producing CAN bus errors. The electrical environment in automobiles is naturally harsh with lots of noise and often unexpected transients.

The primary measurement tool used today to test and debug the physical layer of the CAN differential serial bus in automotive systems is an oscilloscope. This protocol was developed by Bosch nearly 30 years, and it is still considered the 'workhorse' control bus for all of today's vehicles. The differential CAN bus is the primary serial bus used for drive-train and body control.

Nearly all of the electronic systems in today's automobiles are controlled and monitored via serial bus links.