I think at worst it is a wash. Having used various device on both, CAN is more regular. The complexity you attribute to CAN is there with I2C just poorly docume

I think at worst it is a wash. Having used various device on both, CAN is more regular. The complexity you attribute to CAN is there with I2C just poorly documented, devices resetting for no reason, etc. I think CAN is preferable, and you can even use it on short runs without the physical interfaces.