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Volvo's electric XC90 SUV to include lidar as standard equipment next year

DETROIT — Volvo Cars plans to make lidar sensors standard equipment in a new generation of its XC90 SUV next year as part of a strategy to deploy more advanced safety and automated driving technology that relies on precise images of the world around the vehicle. The decision by Volvo Cars to fold lidar sensors into the base price of its vehicle is a bet that customers will pay for the additional capability. It has been called a "watershed moment" by some in the industry. The Swedish brand, owned by China's Geely group, is taking a sharply different road from rival Tesla Inc, which has shunned lidar and radar and is focusing on just cameras and software for its automated driving systems. Self-driving car sensor startup Luminar Technologies Inc will supply Volvo Cars with its Iris lidar and Sentinel software in combination with software from Volvo in the electric XC90 SUV that will be built in South Carolina and go on sale in 2022, the companies said. The new technologies are designed to address traffic situations that often result in severe injuries and fatalities. Over time, the technology will become more capable and will increasingly intervene to prevent collisions, the companies said. "By having this hardware as standard, we can continuously improve safety features over the air and introduce advanced autonomous drive systems," Volvo Cars Chief Executive Hakan Samuelsson said in a statement. Lidar sensors, which use laser light pulses to render precise images of the environment around the car, are seen as essential by many automakers to enable obstacle detection and avoidance in advanced driving assistance systems and eventually in fully automated vehicles. Complete sensor set on on electric successor to XC90 Until now, lidar has been too costly for automakers to implement as anything other than an option that costs extra. Luminar CEO Austin Russell said the pricing for its lidar is on the order of $1,000 per unit. Volvo Cars' chief technology officer, Henrik Green, said cost is not the focus for the Swedish auto brand. While the price of the technology will come down over time as volumes grow, the rollout will accelerate use of automated services that the company can charge for. Green said subsequent vehicles will add the lidar package as standard, and that this continues Volvo Cars' history of being first to standardize many safety features, including three-point seat belts and side-impact airbags.

Cyan Racing Volvo P1800 First Drive: The Swedish answer to Singer Porsche

There’s a good chance youÂ’ve never heard of Cyan Racing unless youÂ’re a fan of World Touring Car Championship racing. Its previous name might ring a bell, however: Polestar Racing. Before the performance road car side of its business was sold to Volvo, and therefore long before that business was in turn spun off into an electric car brand, Polestar developed and campaigned racecars. Now known as Cyan Racing, it has had quite the run of success, too, as theyÂ’re the reigning champions in the WTCC series with five titles so far. Somehow, they found the time to create something entirely different: the Volvo P1800 Cyan. As the name implies, itÂ’s based on the P1800 coupe that was produced from 1961 through 1973. Readers of a certain age will associate that car with Roger Moore as The Saint, before he became James Bond. The P1800 has always been an anomaly in the Volvo lineage. Its classic shape came from the Frua/Ghia studio in Italy and even though it never had sports car credentials, the P1800 had a small but loyal following. So loyal that a P1800S holds a Guinness World Record for the 3.25 million miles driven by its original owner. Despite the P1800 CyanÂ’s undeniable similarity to the original Volvo coupe, itÂ’s an entirely different beast.  The only items that remain from the original 1964 donor vehicle are its steel chassis, hood release, handbrake, and windshield wipers. High-strength steel has replaced much of the substructure and the body has been reimagined in carbon fiber. Under the hood is a turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder sourced from the Volvo S60 TC1 race car. It produces a surprising 420 horsepower and 336 pound-feet of torque at 6,000 rpm. Bolted to the block is a five-speed Holinger manual transmission that sends power to the rear wheels. The original P1800Â’s live axle is replaced by an independent rear with front and rear double-wishbone suspensions being fully adjustable. The 18-inch custom wheels are shod with Pirelli P Zero rubber: 235 widths up front and 265s in the rear. This all results in a featherlight 2,180-pound curb weight. LetÂ’s just say that again for effect: 2,180 lbs. ThatÂ’s lighter than a Miata, folks. At this point, the P1800 Cyan is already unreasonably cool, but wait, thereÂ’s so much more. Hans Baath, general manager for Cyan Racing proudly admits that Singer Vehicle Designs is a huge inspiration for this project, and if youÂ’ve ever seen a Singer Porsche in person, you probably have an idea of whatÂ’s next.

Kia leads J.D. Power's Vehicle Dependability Study for 2022

For the first year ever, Kia leads J.D. Power's annual Vehicle Dependability Study with a score of 145 problems per 100 vehicles. Buick (147) and Hyundai (148) round out the top three. The highest premium brand on the list is Genesis, with a score of 148. It's common for so-called "mass market" brands to lead this particular study, according to J.D. Power, as "premium" brands "typically incorporate more technology in their vehicles, which increases the likelihood for problems to occur" and aren't necessarily built to a higher standard that less-expensive brands. The highest-rated single nameplate is the Porsche 911. It's the third time out of the past four years and the second year in a row that Porsche's quintessential sports car has taken top honors. Porsche as a brand sits in seventh place (162) just behind Lexus (159) and ahead of Dodge (166). At the very bottom of the list is Land Rover with a dismal score of 284; the SUV specialist held the same unfortunate distinction on last year's list. Ram (266), Volvo (256), Alfa Romeo (245) and Acura (244) also performed poorly. The overall industry average score sits at 192 — mass market brands average a score of 190 while premium brands sit 14 points lower at 204. While Tesla is unofficially included in some of J.D. Power's results, the agency says the sample size it has access to for this study is too small to include. As has been the case for the past several years, infotainment systems dominate the list of problems reported by owners. Popular (or unpopular, depending on your point of view) complaints include built-in voice recognition (8.3 PP100), Android Auto/Apple CarPlay connectivity (5.4 PP100), built-in Bluetooth system (4.5 PP100), not enough power plugs/USB ports (4.2 PP100), navigation systems difficult to understand/use (3.7 PP100), touchscreen/display screen (3.6 PP100), and navigation system inaccurate/outdated map (3.6 PP100). While problems with the car's infotainment and technology packages are indeed bothersome, it's important to remember that such issues aren't usually leaving owners stranded with an immovable vehicle like a broken transmission or blown engine would. Culling infotainment complaints from the results would reduce the average problem-per-100-vehicle score by a staggering 51.9 points. The vehicles included in this study are from the 2019 model year. That means owners have had three years to get to know their cars and trucks. It's the 33rd year that J.D.