Volvo reveals new EV brains – and unexpected promises

Volvo has an EV and autonomous vehicle plan, and brings software development at home to send it faster than later. Car makers reveal Volvocars.OS today, the operating system itself will power the new generation of electrical vehicles that offer self-driving features without supervision on certain roads. 

At present, Volvo says, its vehicles include 100+ different ecuses, or electronic control units. It manages everything from adaptive cruise control, to active safety systems, to cabin and similar lighting, and put together from various suppliers and specialists.

Switching to a new architecture will change the approach dramatically. In the middle will be a new core computer, or more accurately two of them, use Nvidia Drive Orin Socs. Initially, one would focus more on vehicle control and basic functionality, while others were dedicated to autonomous driving and other advanced features. However, the second generation system will repack both computers into one unit, for efficiency in processing, cooling, and power.

Volvo believes it can cut around 50 ecuses through strategies, and increase flexibility. There will be more support for over-the-air (OTA) updates, for example, which will enable a wider increase to various components in EV. It will also play a role in adding extended capabilities for systems such as Volvo pilot assists, hands-offs, unattended highway drive systems.

That, along with Volvocars.os, is expected to debut on the new XC90, the new electric SUV on the path to be disclosed in 2022. It will also see the Lidar sensor installed on the windshield for the first time on the vehicle car maker, using Luminar technology Supported by Volvo. This will be a more instrumental part of the Volvo fleet moving forward.

Lidar has a range of 230 to 300 meters (755-985 feet), said Volvo, and will be one of the various sensors on board. It will include cameras, ultrasonic, radar, and others. Unlike the Approach Elon Musk with Tesla Vision, Volvo relies on more data sources and data types that are good things.

“You have another vision source,” Håkan Samuelsson, Volvo CEO, shows. “We also have a camera, of course you have a radar, and you have a lidar above, and it’s better. All of this will be mixed into the computer’s vision system. The car will look better, and with it will also be a safer car. “

Lidar is not a cheap sensor, but Volvo looks beyond the idea of ​​self-driving upsell. “If there is a technology that can save lives, it is difficult to see it as optional,” Samuelsson said.

To justify it, Volvo tried to take a step back because it absorbed the cost of new hardware into the whole Bill of Material. “We are not talking about one device to wear the roof of a car, we talk about something that really strengthens the brand, really increases value,” Samuelsson said. A safer car, including those who have the highest speed because Volvo has done it, will also be cheaper to ensure. It was mainly the key, because Volvo said it planned to bundle insurance with new eVs.

“The total cost of mobility – it really costs we see – really must be considered,” Samuelsson concluded.

Open a new potential revenue stream, meanwhile, will be the key aspect of Volvocars.OS. It will effectively become an umbrella across the platform such as Android OS automotive, QNX, Autosar, and Linux, and Volvo will have a variety of APIs that expect developers to be used to make new services and applications for Volvo vehicles and owners.