Before we’re all reduced to shank’s mare, Concurrent is wading into the automotive industry, observing that with the amount of electronics in cars constantly on the uptick, it’s a good place for an embedded Linux-based networking system.

So it’s announced FlexRay communication support for its SIMulation Workbench, which provides a complete framework to develop and execute real-time hardware-in-the-loop and man-in-the-loop simulations.

Concurrent says FlexRay offers the networking performance needed by new enhanced automotive applications such as brake-by-wire and steer-by-wire.

Automotive engineers will have a complete set of software tools that reduces test and integration time for new advanced automotive designs.

FlexRay is an advanced automotive network standard for deterministic, fault-tolerant, high-speed data communication specified by the FlexRay Consortium. The consortium partners include BMW, Bosch, Daimler, Freescale, General Motors, NXP Semiconductors and Volkswagen.

Apparently about 20% of all the light vehicles made for the North American market will incorporate FlexRay as their communication bus by the year 2012.

Concurrent has experience providing solutions to Ford and General Motors. “The addition of support for the FlexRay standard creates a new market potential for SIMulation Workbench” according to Concurrent CEO Dan Mondor.