- Volvo CEO says company is ahead of other traditional automakers
- EX60 is its first truly software-defined vehicle
- 500+ mile range and 400 kW charging promised
Volvo has been on the PR offensive this week, teasing information about its upcoming EX60 electric SUV before finally revealing it at a glitzy event in Stockholm, Sweden.
There’s good reason for this, as its XC60 (the vehicle that will largely replace the electric vehicle) has sold more than 2.7 million units since its launch in 2008, making it the best-selling Volvo of all time.
Considering the brand’s flagship EX90 got off to a rocky start thanks to software and computer gremlins, it has a huge task to ensure success, especially as it will consider Tesla and BMW among its fiercest rivals.
But Volvo President and CEO Hakan Samuelsson fully supports the latest compact SUV, which the company says is a “game-changer” and will “end range anxiety” thanks to its range of more than 500 miles and its ability to transport electrons at a speed of 400 kW. It can add up to 211 miles of range in just ten minutes, which is wildly impressive.
“I think we’re way ahead of everyone else, and good luck to the rest of you,” Samuelsson said in a roundtable interview, according to The Drive.
Michael Fleiss, Volvo’s director of strategy and product, then expanded, stating that the EX90 is a software-defined vehicle, like the one Ford tested and stopped.
“Volkswagen keeps trying, but it hasn’t succeeded. And we have succeeded,” he added. Although he did admit that it took “some time” to get there.
The EX60 is powered by what Volvo calls the latest generation of its HuginCore superset (named after a Nordic bird) that includes hardware from Nvidia and Qualcomm Technologies.
This massive amount of computing power powers the latest Android automotive operating system, which will be the first in the automotive space to have Google’s Gemini AI assistant built in from the start.
This powerful hardware setup not only enables “ultra-responsive” infotainment, but also powers advanced safety and driver assistance systems, as well as paving the way for higher levels of autonomous driving.
Learning from mistakes
Despite the bragging of Volvo’s launch event, the Swedish company was quick to admit that its path to a true software-defined vehicle hasn’t been easy, with Michael Fleiss acknowledging that he feels Volvo is “one of the few traditional OEMs that has that.”
“Our customers suffered from EX90 quality issues that we had in the past, which have now been resolved, since the last software update. So it was a painful development,” he said. That referred to the fact that the company’s seven-seat flagship SUV shipped without the computing power to run its next-generation LiDAR-based safety feature set.
There was a lot of talk about the technology at the time of launch and its ability to reduce the intrusion of safety systems, giving the driver a second set of eyes and opening the doors to high levels of autonomous driving.
But LiDAR remained offline until the company began recalling the EX90s to replace its computer chips, and now that Volvo has terminated its contract with supplier Luminar, it appears it will be rendered useless.
On top of this, there have been a number of forums frequented by early EX90 owners that have been plagued with all sorts of bugs and gremlins, once again forcing the Swedish brand to recall the cars and even replace them entirely.
Image 1 of 4
Volvo’s latest electric SUV will be launched without LiDAR technology, due to the breakdown of relations with its supplier Luminar. Additionally, the decision to use the technology in the ES90 was also reversed, which is great from a design standpoint, but raises a lot of questions about the effectiveness of the company’s camera and radar approach in the future.
The Volvo EX60 is undoubtedly a very advanced electric vehicle, offering enormous range and ultra-fast charging speeds, but Volvo’s recent confidence comes from the fact that it finally feels it has solved the complicated software problems that tend to bankrupt legacy automakers.
But with the imminent launch of the highly advanced BMW iX3 (another ‘game changer’), Porsche’s recent electric Macan and Tesla’s continued dominance with the Model Y, it’s going to struggle to achieve the kind of numbers its best-selling XC60 achieved.
Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to receive news, reviews and opinions from our experts in your feeds. Be sure to click the Follow button!
And of course, you can also follow TechRadar on YouTube and tiktok for news, reviews, unboxings in video form and receive regular updates from us on WhatsApp also.
