Volvo is about to drop “one of the world’s biggest OTA updates in history” for all its customers in post-2020 models fitted with Google-based infotainment. The huge, and free, update won’t just change the look of the interface, but will also introduce cutting-edge new features that are only just being rolled out to its newest all-electric models. Some 2.5 million vehicles worldwide will receive the upgrade, across all major markets.
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This big update will come in two parts, and the first will implement the same user interface (UI) as on the all-new EX90 and ES90 onto its other models. The screen is smaller and comes with a slightly different resolution, but Volvo has designed this new UI specifically to fit.
It will bring the latest embedded apps, including Google Maps, Spotify and Apple Music right into the home screen. It’s also fully customisable, and incorporates an ‘active’ bar that will change the functions it can access based on the car’s positioning and any recently used apps. Volvo is also improving the speed and response of the system, despite retaining the same hardware underneath.
Part two of the upgrade includes a full integration of the AI-driven Google Gemini assistant that’s being rolled out in the all-new EX60 first. Like some other high-end systems, this uses the full remit of Google Gemini’s latest AI-powered upgrades to control almost every system in the car, and work with a natural-speech voice control. More details of the system are still to be confirmed, but it’s certainly one of the most substantial new features as part of an OTA update that we’ve encountered.
These elements can be installed in older models thanks to a quiet upgrade that was introduced to all Volvos in the 2020 model year. This new Google Android system formed a resilient background connection to the cloud, which customers can now reap the benefits of.
The first stage of the update is in its final testing phases and is expected to be rolled out in the next few months, with the secondary Gemini upgrade following a few months later.
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