Volvo 90 Series cars receive safety, powertrain and connectivity updates

Volvo Cars has announced that its current 90 Series cars will be receiving a big update. The new updates that deliver new safety features, additional powertrain variants and additional connectivity options will arrive in Volvo’s 90 Series vehicles that will go into production from mid-November.

And there are plenty of new bits that should make the waiting game worthwhile. Android Auto support is finally coming to Volvo’s 90 Series after playing nice with Apple’s CarPlay for long.

“Volvo Cars is the only car maker with a split screen interface that allows you to use both your smartphone functionality and your in-car features without changing views. This is primarily a safety-related feature, designed to make our interface the easiest to use on the market. In the same way our Over-The-Air update capability means that you will always have the latest maps updates to hand,” said Dr Peter Mertens, ex-Senior Vice President Research & Development at Volvo Car Group (now joined Audi).

Smartphone integration also means that Volvo’s 90 series cars will now feature a Over-The-Air navigation update systems to ensure that the driver always has the most updated maps available.

In terms of safety a terms synonymous with the Volvo brand, there is more coming. There will be two new connected safety systems that will arrive with the XC90, S90 and V90. This would include a Slipper Road Alert and Hazard Light Alert. Both systems would use the cloud to share safety information about the road ahead so that cars can alert the driver about the same well in advance. The data would then be shared with other cars on the road so that they too can alert respective drivers about the road conditions ahead.

Coming to powertrains, Volvo Cars will be adding new Drive-E powertrains variants to the 90 Series lineup. Delivering a balance of fuel economy and drivability, 90 Series will see a D3 4-cylinder diesel engine coupled to a new manual 6-speed transmission will deliver better fuel economy. There is a new 6-speed automatic transmission available with the D3 that should deliver better figures. Additionally, the D3 will also be available in an All-Wheel Drive variant.