8:43 am, May 16, 2017
VOLVO Cars has announced a close partnership with Google to develop the next generation of its award-winning in-car infotainment and connectivity solution based on Android.
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 when they are launched on new cars in two years.
‘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 and 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 has said that it 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 enable Volvo Cars to 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.’
Green added: ‘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.’
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 of the partnership and Android OS will be announced at Google’s annual tech show, Google I/O, on May 17.
MORE: New car finance business on the up, according to FLA
MORE: iVendi begins upgrading 4,500 dealers onto new motor finance tool
MORE:If there’s one event not to miss it’s CDX17, says our Google keynote speaker
On SuperUnleaded.com: BAC closes down island for roar-some racing fun
