Better over time: How Volvo Cars’ digital transformation will lead to smarter, safer cars

Key Takeaways:

• Technology for tech’s sake isn’t going to help anyone — there needs to be a purpose.
• Offering new features even after a car has been purchased will help cement Volvo Cars’ relationship with its customers.
• Integrating Snapdragon Cockpit Platform and Snapdragon Auto Connectivity Platform has helped it innovate.
• Rather than spread yourself on a wide variety of software and hardware tracks, it’s better to pool your resources into a single tech stack. 

For Volvo Cars, the debut of its EX90 sports utility vehicle didn’t just mark the debut of its fully electric flagship — it represents a new era of safety, technology and in-car experience. 

Just ask Johan Taws, Volvo Cars’ vice president and head of products and programs for Large Cars.

“I’ve been living with it now for years, spending all my hours with it,” Taws said in an interview with OnQ. “It’s truly the best car I’ve driven.”

Taws is admittedly not the most objective judge; his excitement isn’t just about the car, but what it represents. He opens up about where Volvo wants to go and why having a singular, focused approach works best for innovation. 

Volvo’s promise

The Volvo EX90 is a critical turning point for Volvo Cars and where it is headed. The automaker has promised to unveil a new fully electric car each year, with the EX90 being the first in this new line. It’s part of Volvo Car’s plan to become a climate-neutral company by 2040 and transform into an electric mobility company. 

“The Volvo EX90 is a statement for where we are, and where we are going,” Volvo Cars CEO Jim Rowan said when the car was first unveiled two years ago.

Its arrival in dealerships in September was the culmination of many years of work that wasn’t just about sustainability. Volvo Cars saw the opportunity to embrace technology and had worked with Qualcomm Technologies’ hardware to develop its software strategy since 2018, and tapped into the Snapdragon Digital Chassis Solution, a portfolio designed to specifically cater to different industries. 

Volvo Cars wasn’t just investing in technology for tech’s sake. Taws said technology focused its purpose, which was to give people “the freedom to move in a sustainable, safe and personal way.”

A focused approach

In September 2024 during Volvo Cars’ Capital Markets Day, the company revealed that it would channel all its engineering resources into a single mission: Creating cars that get better with time. 

The key ingredient to this plan was a single technology stack, called the Volvo Cars Superset tech stack, which would include its fundamental core of systems, modules, software and hardware for all future electric vehicles. The idea is that the stack serves as a toolbox with different components that can be configured in different ways depending on the needs of a particular model. This approach will allow the company to move quicker with its innovation.  

“You can either go wide and slow or you can have the approach we now have to maximize our efforts in one direction, getting higher speed and making sure that the products become better over time,” Taws said. 

The idea is to create cars that will continue to get better even after a customer drives one off the lot. Those improvements would come in the form of over the air software updates that either unlock new capabilities or add new safety or driver support features (like how a smartphone gets upgraded with security updates and other bug fixes over time). That way, customers will continue to see new value in their cars, further cementing the relationship with Volvo Cars.

Collaboration with Qualcomm 

While Qualcomm Technologies has been in the automotive space, we’ve more recently built out a foundation for innovation in this area through our Snapdragon Digital Chassis. 

“We’re all experiencing the transformation of the car,” Nakul Duggal, group general manager of automotive, industrial & embedded IoT, and cloud for Qualcomm Technologies, said during his keynote address during Snapdragon Summit in October. “They’re more connected than ever.”

Within the Snapdragon Digital Chassis, Volvo Cars utilized the Snapdragon Cockpit Platform to develop intuitive, personalized and immersive in-cabin experiences, advanced audio, in-cabin monitoring and ultra-HD surround view monitoring and support for multiple rich and immersive displays.

From Qualcomm Technologies’ Snapdragon Auto Connectivity Platform, Volvo Cars has utilized our ability to create a consistent mobile internet connection through 5G, in-car Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, location positioning and 3D navigation, built-in safety-focused software and Power Line Communication devices for flexible and efficient EV and BEV charging. 

One practical example that customers will appreciate: The Google Android Automotive-based infotainment system on the EX90 is twice as responsive as the previous generation, with graphics generation that is 10 times faster. 

“We see our collaboration coming to life with the Snapdragon Digital Chassis and the EX90,” Taws said. “For many customers, the infotainment and connectivity aspect of it is really a differentiator between brands.”

“That is why our new user experience approach is not limited to just one model. We will also deliver it to millions of Volvo drivers around the world with a simple over-the-air software update. 

During 2025, around 2.5 million customers around the globe will gradually receive an upgrade on their Volvo cars built as early as 2020. This roll-out is in line with our strategy to make our cars better over time with regular over-the-air software updates.”

Looking forward 

The EX90 is just the first in the line, with the ES90, an all-electric sedan slated to make its official debut in March. Volvo touts it as its next-generation luxury car “designed for a life in balance.”

The platform in place will allow the EX90 and the ES90 to continue to perform optimally through their life cycle. Taws recalled how onerous it was to make changes in vehicles, which required weeks and months and only benefited new cars coming off the line. 

“We can pump out functions, features and bug fixes in a way that was totally unheard of just a couple of years ago,” he said. That’s what makes this the most exciting time in the industry after more than two decades at Volvo Cars.