Pine Gray & Denim Blue 2018 Volvo XC60 – Google Android Integration – Video
The new XC60, one of the safest cars ever made, is fully-loaded with new technology. Steer Assist has been added to the ground-breaking City Safety system. A new safety system called Oncoming Lane Mitigation uses steer assist to help mitigate head-on collisions, while Volvo’s Blind Spot Indication System (BLIS) now uses Steer Assist functionality to reduce the risk of lane-changing collisions.
“We have focused on building a car that can deliver pleasure to all of your senses – from a commanding view of the road ahead in a beautifully appointed and calm cabin, to a safe, inspired and confident ride,” said Henrik Green, Senior Vice President Product & Quality at Volvo Car Group. “We’ve paid particular attention to making life easier for our customers by providing them with the creature comforts and services that take the hassle out of everyday life.”
Pilot Assist, Volvo’s advanced semi-autonomous driver assistance system, which takes care of steering, acceleration and braking on well-marked roads up to 130 km/h, is available in the new XC60 as an option.
The new XC60 offers Volvo’s award-winning T8 Twin Engine petrol plug-in hybrid at the top of the powertrain range, delivering 407 hp and acceleration from 0-100 Km in just 5.3 seconds.
“We have a wide range of powertrains. The new XC60 will launch with the diesel D4 engine at 190 hp and the D5 with PowerPulse technology delivering 235 hp. We also have the petrol-powered T5 delivering 254 hp and the T6, which with both turbo and superchargers attached, delivers 320 hp and 400 Nm of torque,” added Henrik Green.
But it is not just under the hood that the new XC60 delivers healthy performance. The new CleanZone four-zone climate system removes harmful pollutants and particles from outside the cabin to deliver Scandinavian-fresh air on the inside.
Volvo Cars’ driver infotainment and connected services offer, Sensus, and the Volvo On Call app both receive a graphical update with improved usability. As in the 90 Series cars, smartphone integration with CarPlay and Android Auto is also available.
Volvo Cars, the premium car maker, has announced a close partnership with Google, one of the world’s largest technology companies, to develop the next generation of its award-winning in-car infotainment and connectivity solution based on Android, offering access to a wide array of apps and services. It will launch on new Volvo models within two years.
The partnership promises to revolutionise how Volvo customers engage and interact with their cars. The large catalogue of popular Android apps – developed by Google, Volvo, or third party app developers – will offer connected and predictive services in and around the car.
“We are making an important strategic step with the Google partnership. Google’s platform and services will enhance the user experience by enabling more personalisation possibilities, while Android will offer increased flexibility from a development perspective,” said Henrik Green, Senior Vice President Research & Development at Volvo Car Group.
Volvo Cars’ partnership with Google reflects the ongoing convergence between the automotive and technology industries as cars become increasingly connected. Volvo believes smart partnerships are the future for the car industry. Using Android as the base operating system will increase speed and flexibility in the development and offer its customers the ability to personalise the connected in-car experience.
“We’re thrilled to partner with Volvo to bring Android into their next generation connected cars,” said Patrick Brady, Vice President of Android Engineering at Google. “This partnership gives us the opportunity to deliver a more seamless experience to Volvo drivers through a full-featured infotainment platform and rich ecosystem of Android applications and Google services.”
“With the advent of Android we will embrace a rich ecosystem while keeping our iconic Volvo user interface. We will offer hundreds of popular apps and the best integrated experience in this broad, connected environment,” said Henrik Green.
Volvo is also collaborating with Google on another initiative to update recent Volvo models by adding Google Local Search, a location based service application. This will be released through an update to customers with Sensus Navigation.
Further details on the partnership and Android OS will be announced at Google’s annual tech show, Google I/O on May 17.