Inside the Software Test Centre – where cars meet code

We have now nearly completed one of the biggest transformations in our 97-year history: moving from combustion engines to fully electric, software-defined cars.

To fully convey the complexity of this change, you need to see it. That’s why we recently invited a group of the world’s most prominent technology and business media to our software test centre in Gothenburg to learn more.

This marked the first time media had been given such deep access behind the scenes – so let’s take you inside and show you what they saw.

Alwin Bakkenes, our head of global software engineering, kicked things off by talking about our long tradition of using data to make cars safer – and how new technologies are helping us raise the bar even higher. This is why for Volvo Cars, the software defined vehicle holds a particularly transformational power.

Christian Liljekvist, director of the Software Test Centre, presented the centre itself and the role it’s playing in allowing us to build safer cars, more efficiently. This facility is in many ways the physical embodiment of the transformation that we have undertaken. A tour of the facility followed – first stop, hardware-in-the-loop.

Sridharan Lakshmanan, HIL Tech Lead and Albin Karlsson, Software Test Engineer described how hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) is where we test individual features at a server level before a complete car is built. It means we can check key functions early, iterate faster and do it more cost-effectively. One huge advantage of this method is that we can safely test critical systems and scenarios first, so by the time they reach the car, they’re already refined and ready.

Next up, the box-cars. Ajay Tiwari, Test Architect in Test Farm Operations, explained how they replicate the full electrical system of a real car, letting us trace faults, test software download and make sure that signals between units work as intended.

This saves significant time because software can be updated, rebooted and tested instantly, without having to move a physical car or dealing with mechanical issues. Box-cars are especially valuable for testing software on upcoming platforms like SPA3 or future architectures that don’t have full prototypes yet.

The tour continued to vehicle-in-the-loop (VIL) and a short introduction by Oscar Johansson, VIL Tech Lead. VIL is a Volvo-unique setup that lets us test a complete car in a safe, controlled environment. It combines the accuracy of using a real car with the safety and repeatability of a lab.

This setup allows engineers to simulate road conditions, traffic scenarios and sensor inputs without ever leaving the building. That means no waiting for track access, no weather delays and no long test drives. Everything can be repeated exactly the same way, making it easier and faster to track down issues.

After the tour, we headed to the VCDC test track, where media had the chance to be among the first to test drive the EX90 and ES90 with the latest model year software installed. Media had one to one interviews with Anders Bell, our chief engineering and technology officer, and Alwin Bakkenes and for a special touch, Fredrik Lind, ES90 Commercial Lead showcased the Abbey Road Studios Mode (more on that sound experience here), which is a perfect example of the type of amazing features we can deliver through software.

By the end, media left with a more in-depth understanding of what it takes to build a software-defined car and why it’s such a major shift from how we used to work.

Dive deeper and explore some of the highlight coverage from the day:

Bloomberg: Volvo Offers Software to Rivals in Reversal From Coding Delays
Electrified: Volvo aims to take the lead in software-defined vehicles
SvD: Kommer aldrig att fungera superperfekt