Volvo Cars kicks off largest over-the-air car software update in history with comprehensive user experience upgrade

Volvo Cars is launching its largest over-the-air software update ever, as it rolls out a new, more intuitive user experience to millions of customers starting this week. 

Around 2.5 million Volvo cars across 85 countries around the globe will receive the new user experience, called Volvo Car UX. A more user-friendly new layout for the car’s central display screen allows drivers to enjoy a faster, easier and more intuitive way to interact with their cars while reducing the number of taps to get to different functions. 

Customers who drive a Volvo car with Google built-in* will receive the upgrade on their Volvo cars built as early as 2020** free of charge, an initiative in line with Volvo Cars’ strategy to make its cars better over time with regular software updates. 

“This update is one of the largest over-the-air updates in automotive history, leveraging years of investment in Volvo Cars’ tech stack to improve life with their cars for millions of people,” says Anders Bell, chief engineering and technology officer at Volvo Cars. “Our new user experience delivers significant updates and improvement in areas most used by drivers, and directly addresses the needs and desires of our customers.” 

Based on the Android Automotive operating system and with several Google services as standard, the new user experience aims to make customers’ lives easier behind the wheel. It now takes fewer taps or clicks for customers to reach the most-used features, getting them where they want to be more quickly. 

The new layout also includes easier, more prominent navigation and a refreshed, more modern look, with many upgrades grounded in real-world research and feedback from customers. In other words, it’s simply better. 

As one of the most comprehensive infotainment updates by any car maker to date, the new user experience creates a contemporary and consistent design philosophy across all Volvo car models. This means a customer with a three-year-old XC40 benefits from the same approach as an EX90 owner, for example. 

The content on the screen represents the biggest change, with the most common apps and controls, such as maps, media and phone, presented on the home screen. This means for example that customers who are following navigation directions and want to change the music, no longer have to leave Google Maps to access the media feature. 

Then there is the contextual bar, which changes what drivers see according to the situation and displays the most recently used apps. When driving at low speeds, the icon for outside cameras appears so drivers can get help manoeuvring in tight spaces. 

For plug-in hybrid drivers, the new user experience makes it easier for drivers to get the most out of their electric powertrain. Via ‘Drive Modes’ on the home screen, drivers can easily access ‘Pure’ mode alongside other options. That means switching from hybrid to electric-only power is now only one tap away, giving drivers more control. 

At the same time as the updates above, Volvo Cars will also start to roll out the opportunity for all customers with Google built-in*, but without its Pilot Assist driver assistance feature, to purchase and download the feature to their car.  

The update also prepares cars for an optimal conversational AI experience with Google Gemini, which is set to come to the same eligible cars later this spring. 

The small print 

• Or its equivalent in China and South Korea. 

• ** Including C40, XC40, EX40, EC40, S60, V60, V60 Cross Country, XC60, S90, V90, V90 Cross Country and XC90 with Android operating system. Over-the-air installation of regular software updates are provided at no charge as long as cars have been updated with the latest software updates on a regular basis, and customers have an active data connection. Otherwise customers may need to visit an authorized Volvo Cars service center to be able to receive software updates, which may incur a fee.  

• Over-the-air update availability will vary by market and model year 

• Google, Google Play, Google Gemini and Google Maps are trademarks of Google LLC.