2023 Volvo Xc90 Plus on 2040-cars

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The next-generation wearable will be your car

This year's CES has had a heavy emphasis on the class of device known as the "wearable" – think about the Apple Watch, or Fitbit, if that's helpful. These devices usually piggyback off of a smartphone's hardware or some other data connection and utilize various onboard sensors and feedback devices to interact with the wearer. In the case of the Fitbit, it's health tracking through sensors that monitor your pulse and movement; for the Apple Watch and similar devices, it's all that and some more. Manufacturers seem to be developing a consensus that vehicles should be taking on some of a wearable's functionality. As evidenced by Volvo's newly announced tie-up with the Microsoft Band 2 fitness tracking wearable, car manufacturers are starting to explore how wearable devices will help drivers. The On Call app brings voice commands, spoken into the Band 2, into the mix. It'll allow you to pass an address from your smartphone's agenda right to your Volvo's nav system, or to preheat your car. Eventually, Volvo would like your car to learn things about your routines, and communicate back to you – or even, improvise to help you wake up earlier to avoid that traffic that might make you late. Do you need to buy a device, like the $249 Band 2, and always wear it to have these sorts of interactions with your car? Despite the emphasis on wearables, CES 2016 has also given us a glimmer of a vehicle future that cuts out the wearable middleman entirely. Take Audi's new Fit Driver project. The goal is to reduce driver stress levels, prevent driver fatigue, and provide a relaxing interior environment by adjusting cabin elements like seat massage, climate control, and even the interior lighting. While it focuses on a wearable device to monitor heart rate and skin temperature, the Audi itself will use on-board sensors to examine driving style and breathing rate as well as external conditions – the weather, traffic, that sort of thing. Could the seats measure skin temperature? Could the seatbelt measure heart rate? Seems like Audi might not need the wearable at all – the car's already doing most of the work. Whether there's a device on a driver's wrist or not, manufacturers seem to be developing a consensus that vehicles should be taking on some of a wearable's functionality.

Daimler and Volvo plan hydrogen fuel cell truck production in 2025

LONDON — Daimler's truck unit and Volvo said on Thursday they would start making hydrogen fuel cells in Europe in 2025 via a joint venture, and called for EU policies to help make the zero-emission technology commercially viable. The rival German and Swedish makers of large freight-hauling trucks formed their venture, Cellcentric, in March. They said they would provide more details on large-scale fuel production in 2022, but said Cellcentric was already scaling up prototype output. "Partnerships like Cellcentric are vital to our commitment to decarbonizing road transport," Volvo Chief Executive Martin Lundstedt said in a statement. Aside from the fuel-cell joint venture, the two companies remain competitors. Both hope to test fuel-cell trucks in about three years and start mass producing trucks in the second half of this decade. The European Union has been pushing tighter emission standards, fueling a boom in zero-emission electric cars. But batteries in electric vehicles are very heavy, and hydrogen fuel cells are seen as a potentially more viable zero-emission power systems for long-haul freight in the future. Fuel cells produce electricity from hydrogen, emitting only water. The two truck makers called for the construction of around 300 hydrogen refueling stations suitable for heavy-duty vehicles in Europe by 2025 and about 1,000 stations by 2030. During a video conference with the two firms, European Commissioner for Transport Adina Valean said the commission would this summer propose a revised alternative fuels directive. She said this "will include binding requirements for rolling out hydrogen fueling infrastructure ... and financial support will be available where needed." Automaker Stellantis said this year it would begin deliveries in Europe of its first medium-sized vans powered by hydrogen fuel cells by the end of 2021. Stellantis said at the time that Germany had 90 hydrogen stations and France had 25 — a tiny fraction of the thousands of petrol stations available for fossil-fuel vehicles today. As zero-emission trucks are significantly more expensive than fossil-fuel models, Daimler and Volvo said a "policy framework is needed to ensure demand and affordability." The two companies said policies should include subsidies for "CO2-neutral technologies and a taxation system based on carbon and energy content." Related video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

2015 Volvo XC90 mule spotted testing in the snow

The Volvo XC90 was a big step for the Swedish automaker in 2003, but the midsize crossover has changed very little since its introduction. All that's about to change as Volvo starts its initial development on the 2015 XC90, which we see for the first time in these spy shots showing a cobbled-together XC70.
Like the current XC90, the next-generation model will be both longer and wider than the XC70 - judging by the modifications made to this mule's body - which will continue to allow Volvo's flagship crossover and provide three rows of seating. The next XC90 will ride on a new platform that will eventually make up around two-thirds of all Volvo sales, called the Scalable Product Architecture (SPA).
Our shooter managed to find out the registration number for this mule, which indicated that it was powered by a five-cylinder diesel, but we expect the automaker to start stepping away from its current powertrains with a big push toward smaller engines courtesy of the new Volvo Engine Architecture (VEA). Rumor has it that the future engine lineup for the XC90 will rely heavily on turbocharged four-cylinder engines and eight-speed automatic transmissions, which will likely eliminate or lessen some of the current mills available like a straight-six or V8.