Volvo Cars has announced several updates to its 90 series cars, delivering new safety, powertrain and connectivity developments.
The Swedish carmaker’s smartphone integration offer, which already includes Apple CarPlay, will now come with Android Auto functionality in Volvo’s driver interface.
“Volvo Cars is the only car maker with a split screen interface that allows you to use both your smartphone functionality and your in-car features without changing views,” said Volvo Car Group Research & Development, SVP Peter Mertens.
“This is primarily a safety-related feature, designed to make our interface the easiest to use on the market. In the same way our Over-The-Air update capability means you will always have the latest maps updates to hand.
Delivering smartphone integration which covers mainstream smartphone operating systems, Volvo’s 90 series cars will also now feature an Over-The-Air navigation update system, which ensures the car has the latest maps on-board.
Volvo has also applied its safety thinking to the connected car, delivering two new connected safety systems, which will make their debut in the XC90, S90 and V90; Slippery Road Alert and Hazard Light Alert which use the cloud to share safety-critical data between cars.
“Today’s Volvos contain many safety sensors,” added Mertens. “We believe sharing safety-related information – whether around conditions or hazards on the road ahead is a thoughtful and useful way to use the information the car is already gathering.”
Volvo Cars’ Scalable Product Architecture, on which the 90 series and coming 60 series will be built, means new safety systems can be added across the range of cars built on the platform with little or no delay.
Slippery Road Alert increases the driver’s awareness of both current road conditions and those on the road ahead, by anonymously collecting road surface information from cars further ahead on the road and warning drivers approaching a slippery road section in advance.
Hazard Light Alert forewarns drivers of vehicles which have activated their hazard warning lights on the road ahead, providing the driver with enough time to slow down. This is particularly useful on blind corners and over the crest of hills in the road.
These two new connected safety systems will go live in Sweden and Norway initially with a planned roll-out to other markets.
Volvo has also added several new Drive-E powertrain variants; The D3 4-cylinder diesel engine coupled to a new manual 6-speed transmission will deliver fuel economy of 4.3 l/100 km in the S90 with emissions down to 114 g/km CO2.
A new automatic 6-speed transmission coupled to the D3 will deliver 114 g/km CO2 and 4.3 l/100 km. The D3 will also now be available with All-Wheel Drive.
The 90 Series model update sees the introduction of a new exterior colour, Maple Brown on the S90 and V90. The updated models will go into production in mid-November.
