New Volvo cars from 2023 onwards will be able to get software updates over-the-air

Volvo has big plans for their electric vehicles in Malaysia, including making it the place for EVs in the region. We’ve already seen the Volvo XC40 Recharge launch in Malaysia too. The latest move by Volvo Malaysia to improve Malaysian customers’ experience is the introduction of over-the-air (OTA) software updates for their cars.

The OTA updates capabilities is now made available to the latest XC90, S60 and V60 models, and all Volvo cars for model year 2023 onwards will get it too. It follows the technology’s introduction on the Swedish marque’s fully electric vehicles, and means that all Volvo’s EVs are able to receive OTA updates for its operating system. Volvo owners will also be getting an upgrade to their infotainment system, bringing it to Android 11. This includes access to new app categories on Google Play Store, with video streaming another feature set to appear later in the year.

On top of that, the latest OTA update will come with a number of other subtle improvements such as better energy management, improved climate timers and updates to mobile app functionality as well as in-car apps. The energy management improvements in particular will help maintain its battery temperatures during hot and cold weather for a longer driving range.

“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.

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,” – Henrik Green, Volvo Cars’ chief product officer

This OTA update in particular is Volvo’s eighth complete car update, and covers over 190,000 Volvo cars in Malaysia, Australia, Hong Kong, India, South Korea, New Zealand, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand. Volvo XC40 owners though will want to note that not all variants of it will be able to get the OTA update. For more information on the new OTA updates coming to Volvo’s cars, you can check out their full statement here.