Volvo has announced that all its new car models from model year 2023 will be available with over-the-air (OTA) software update capability. With this, OTA will be available on the latest XC90 SUV, S60 sedan and V60 wagon models and it follows the tech’s introduction in Volvo’s fully-electric cars.
In this latest round of OTA updates, Volvo owners will get an upgrade of their infotainment system to the latest version of Android Automotive OS, Android 11. They will also get access to new app categories on Google Play, including navigation, charging and parking, while video streaming is expected to be added later in the year.
The update also brings feature improvements, ranging from better energy management through improved climate timers (boosts driving range) and updates to mobile app functionality and in-car applications. The Volvo app will also have more frequent updates from the car on the charging level during an ongoing session.
This is Volvo’s eighth complete car update and it will reach more than 190,000 cars worldwide. This week’s release also marks the debut of OTA updates in several markets such as India, Taiwan and New Zealand; after expansion to markets such as South Korea, Australia, Thailand and Singapore earlier in the year.
“By making all Volvo models able to receive OTA updates, we make important progress towards our ambition of making our customers’ cars better every day. This is a significant milestone: we’re now updating cars of all models in a majority of our markets, bringing the benefits of remote continuous updates to an ever increasing number of customers,” said Henrik Green, chief product officer at Volvo Cars.
Since the beginning of 2021, Volvo has been offering OTA updates on a regular basis in the majority of its markets, and the Geely-owned company expects the volume of cars covered by such updates to grow with every new update. Markets where Volvo now introduces OTA updates include Australia, Hong Kong, India, South Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand.
Separately, Volvo also announced that it will offer its infotainment system with Google apps and services such as Google Assistant and Google Maps built-in across all new models. Jointly developed with Google, Volvo says that its infotainment system offers customers a user-friendly interface, unparalleled connectivity and access to well-known apps and services. However, OTA capability and Google Services are not available on the XC40.
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Virus update also OTA.