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Volvo building new AstaZero safety proving ground in Sweden

Volvo is an automaker committed to vehicle safety, setting an ambitious target for itself: by 2020, the Swedish automaker envisions that no one will be killed or seriously injured in one of its cars. In order to achieve that goal, Volvo has announced a new proving ground designed specifically to test safety solutions.
Called AstaZero, the new facility near the company's headquarters in Gothenburg, Sweden, is the result of a $70 million investment. It will cover some 500 acres, with over 60 acres of pavement, four city blocks and three and a half miles of highway. The Active Safety Test Area (the ASTA in AstaZero) will enable Volvo and its partners (including Scania trucks as well as government bodies and university development programs) to simulate city streets, highways, rural roads, roundabouts, T-junctions and more, combining traffic from cars, pedestrians, bicycles, motorcycles, buses, trucks and even animals in order to account for all manner of potential hazards.
The facility will enable Volvo to test active safety systems and autonomous vehicle operations, and even allow robots to test its prototypes in an adaptive environment that aims to be more flexible than existing proving grounds. Read more about Volvo's commitment to safety in the press release below.

Volvo teases minimalist, no-button EX90 interior

The march to the November 9 reveal of the Volvo EX90 takes its next step with these renderings of a pared down interior. We'll see soon how it looks once the new materials, textures, colors, and tunnel console are added, but for the moment, there are four elements: An instrument panel with a demure HVAC vent, broken up by a steering wheel, a small, uncovered screen behind the wheel, and an infotainment screen. The portrait-oriented tablet carries over from current Volvo design, so too a three-spoke wheel. Everything else in Volvo's current interior schemes is thrown out, including the knobs and buttons on the center console. It looks like the premium brand's version of the interior we were introduced to in the Polestar 3. Fitting, since both vehicles will ride on the same platform and be built at the same U.S. plant.  The cabin's physical design and the car's technology share a same philosophy, which is, "What you need, when you need it." Volvo says that the sensor suite around the EX90 will give the car a 360-view of what's happening outside and inside the car. " Thomas Stovicek, head of UX at Volvo Cars, said, "Since the car also understands its surroundings and you better than ever before, we can create an even safer situation by reducing mode confusion, distraction and information overload." On the infotainment side, we're told this will be done by the vehicle providing contextual options and menus on the two screens. The center screen, which looks larger than the current XC90 unit, performs the roles we've come to expect of it. Autocar spoke with automaker developers and said the screen "will also show information based on context. If you’re simply driving along, a bar near the bottom of the screen will show media information; if youÂ’re on a call, it will show other controls; if itÂ’s cold, it may show the defrost button, etc." This situational knowledge will be especially important as more roads are opened up to hands-free driving and as self-driving capabilities become more capable. Swedish engineers point to the handover from hands-free and autonomous driving back to hands-on driving as a crucial moment. It wants to make that handoff "effortless and intuitive." The display behind the steering wheel is where the driver will go first for traditional info like speed and range, also to understand the operational state of the driver aids.

Volvo will issue world's first EV battery passport ahead of EU rules for 2027

LONDON — Volvo Cars is launching the world's first EV battery passport recording the origins of raw materials, components, recycled content and carbon footprint for its flagship EX90 SUV, which is about to start production, the Swedish automaker told Reuters. The passport was developed by Volvo, which is owned by China's Geely, in partnership with UK startup Circulor, which uses blockchain technology to map supply chains for companies, and took over five years to develop. Battery passports will be mandatory for electric vehicles (EVs) sold in the European Union from February 2027 showing the composition of batteries, including the origin of key materials, their carbon footprint and recycled content. Volvo's head of global sustainability Vanessa Butani told Reuters that introducing the passport nearly three years before regulations kick in was aimed at being transparent with car buyers as the automaker targets producing only fully-electric cars by 2030. "It's really important for us to be a pioneer and a leader," Butani said. The EX90 SUV with a battery passport is due to start production soon at Volvo's plant in Charleston, South Carolina, and will be delivered to customers in Europe and North America from the second half of the year. Volvo owners can access a simplified version of the passport using a QR code on the inside of the driver's door. Butani said the passport would be gradually rolled out to all of Volvo's EVs. A more complete version of the passport will be passed to regulators. It will also include up-to-date information on the EV battery's state of health - vital for assessing used EV values - for 15 years and will Volvo cost around $10 per car, Circulor CEO Douglas Johnson-Poensgen told Reuters. Circulor's system traces battery materials from the mine to individual cars, piggybacking on suppliers' production systems to track materials throughout the supply chain and checking suppliers' monthly energy bills - and how much of their energy comes from renewable sources in order to calculate a total carbon footprint. If Volvo brings on board a supplier, Circulor will need to audit it to keep information current, Johnson-Poensgen said. The passport has also required changes in how Volvo traces parts through its manufacturing process to understand the origins of every part in every vehicle. "Car manufacturing has never been about which rock went into which component and which got connected to which car," Johnson-Poensgen said.