Volvo Cars has revealed an extended partnership with Google, making the Swedish carmaker the primary development partner of Android Automotive software. This will provide Volvo drivers with faster access to new Android features, much faster than many of its competitors in the automotive industry.
Alwin Bakkenes, Volvo’s head of global software engineering, told Reuters, “We’re going to be able to be fast in bringing new capabilities, new features and new experiences to our customers. This really gives us an edge in building fantastic customer experiences.”
The partnership between Google and Volvo stretches back more than a decade, but this further integration is a large leap ahead. Google engineers will now run the newest Android software in Volvo cars in real-time, enabling them to see how it behaves in real-world conditions much sooner in the development cycle.
Bakkenes noted that the automotive world usually falls behind mobile phones by two versions of Android. “That is, things you can do on your mobile phone, often you cannot do in the car,” he said.
Volvo cars are currently operating on Android 13. But during Google’s annual I/O developers conference held in Mountain View, California, the firms demonstrated Volvo’s top-of-the-range EX90 electric SUV running on Android 15—the latest OS version. The version is likely to first appear in Volvo’s production cars later this year.
“Others will have to wait for two years to obtain” that newest version of Android”, Bakkenes further added.
The collaboration also involves the integration of Google’s Gemini artificial intelligence model into Volvo cars with Google built-in. Gemini was shown in practice at the I/O conference in the EX90, providing drivers with more natural and personalized interaction.
Rather than looking for places manually on their phones, users can now request Gemini to access data from their emails or messages. “Or drivers can, for example, ask Gemini to find recipes and then place a shopping list on their phone to make ‘a human-centric experience’,” Bakkenes said.