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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.

Jeremy Lin's new Volvo has him working out with the XC60

Jeremy Lin rose to prominence as a point guard for the New York Knicks in February of 2012 when he came out of nowhere to lead the team to a string of victories. Volvo was quick to notice and signed him as the company's US spokesperson that March. Since then, he has starred in several Volvo advertisements, and his latest ad shows just how he uses his Volvo XC60 to train for the court. The highlight is Lin shooting free throws out of the sunroof.
Since leaving the Knicks, Lin has lost some of the visibility and hype that attracted Volvo to him in the first place. Still, commercials must be made, so check out Lin's latest below.

Cyan Racing shows slightly tamer resto-modded Volvo P1800 GT

Cyan Racing, which was known as Polestar until Volvo purchased the rights to the name in 2015, has unveiled an evolution of its resto-modded P1800 that puts a bigger emphasis on comfort. Called GT, the coupe remains as attractive as its more track-focused sibling. If you need a refresher course, Cyan Racing branched out into street-legal cars when it unveiled a P1800 with classic good looks and modern performance in 2020. That was arguably the worst year to launch anything, let alone an expensive reboot of a relatively obscure classic, but Cyan was on to something: it didn't take long for the brand to receive its first orders.  Viewed from the outside, the GT looks a lot like Cyan's original P1800. It features two-piece bumpers, a front splitter, wheel arch flares and a racing-style fuel filler cap that pokes through the trunk lid. It's inside that you'll find some of the bigger changes: Cyan fitted more comfort-oriented front seats and installed a different roll cage, for example. The brand also notes that it installed more sound-deadening material. Power still comes from a turbocharged, 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine, though it has been tuned with a focus on drivability rather than on flat-out performance. How much power varies from car to car. The output of Cyan's previous P1800-based builds ranges from 350 to 420 horsepower. The turbo-four spins the rear wheels via a five-speed manual transmission, and the coupe weighs less than 2,200 pounds thanks in part to a carbon fiber body. The adjustable suspension system is specific to the GT and softer than the track-bound model's, too. Cyan notes that production of the P1800 GT will be limited, though it doesn't have a specific number of units in mind. Every build starts with a donor P1800, and production takes place in Gothenburg, Sweden. The process requires between 12 and 15 months of work per car. As for pricing, it depends on how the car is configured. Cyan told Autoblog that the average price of the cars built so far hovers around $600,000. That's a lot, but customers keep coming: Cyan notes the second car from the production run has already been shipped to the United States. Featured Gallery Cyan Racing's Volvo P1800 GT, official images View 9 Photos Aftermarket Design/Style Volvo Coupe Luxury Performance Classics