Trading Enterprises Volvo Announces Over-The-Air Software Updates in Volvo New Car Models

Al-Futtaim’s Trading Enterprises, the official representative of Volvo Cars in the UAE, announces the availability of over-the-air (OTA) software update capability, a key technology to deliver on Volvo Cars’ ambition of making customers’ cars continuously better and cementing Volvo Cars’ position as one of the industry leaders when it comes to updating car software over the air.

The OTA capability was first rolled out in the XC40 Recharge in Q4 2021 across the UAE and now expands to the latest XC60, S90, and the C40 with ongoing updates from the V1.7 release. The technology will also be available in MY23 vehicles with OTA capability being applied on the XC90 and XC40 (Mild Hybrid). This means that the company’s full portfolio will receive an update of the car’s complete operating system over the air.

Volvo owners will see their infotainment upgraded to a newer version of Android Automotive OS, Android™ 11 with the OTA update. They’ll also get access to new app categories on Google Play, including navigation, charging, and parking now available with video streaming expected to be added later in the year.

Furthermore, the latest OTA update brings feature improvements, ranging from better energy management through improved climate timers and updates to mobile app functionality and in-car applications.

The energy management improvements help to maintain appropriate battery temperatures during both cold and warm days, boosting driving range. Charging has also improved, for example by pre-heating of the battery which lowers charging time. The Volvo Cars app also receives more frequent updates from the car on the charging percentage during an ongoing session.

The latest OTA update is the company’s eighth complete car update and will reach more than 234,000 Volvo cars across the globe. This week’s release also marks the debut of OTA updates in several new markets around the globe, including India, Taiwan and New Zealand, after expansion to markets such as South Korea, Australia, Thailand and Singapore earlier in the year, taking the total volume of cars updated higher.

“By making all Volvo models able to receive over-the-air updates, we make important progress towards our ambition of making our customers’ cars better every day,” said Henrik Green, chief product officer at Volvo Cars. “This is a significant milestone: we’re now updating cars of all models in a majority of our markets, bringing the benefits of remote continuous updates to an ever-increasing number of customers.”

Since the beginning of last year, Volvo Cars has been offering OTA updates on a regular basis in most Volvo markets, and the company expects the volume of cars covered by such updates to grow with every new update.

The company also reveals that it will offer its infotainment system with Google apps and services such as Google Assistant and Google Maps built-in across all new models, continuing the rollout of one of the best in-car infotainment platforms on the market.

Volvo Cars’ infotainment system is jointly developed with Google and brings Volvo customers a user-friendly interface, unparalleled connectivity and access to well-known apps and services.