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2022 Volvo C40 Recharge Interior Review | Stylish, spartan and Google tech

The 2022 C40 Recharge is an all-electric, all-or-nothing proposition from those delightfully stylish Swedes over at Volvo, whose designers put their typical minimalistic spin on this crossover-coupe EV. While Zac was a bit more fond of the all-blue interior in our tester than I was (you can also get it in black), I was at least equally as impressed as he was by its new tech suite. The "you can get it any way so long as it's loaded" American-market C40 arrived sporting the latest version of Google’s Android Automotive OS infotainment system (like other Volvos). In what may be the most stereotypical display of Silicon Valley chicanery I've seen so far in 2022, this new infotainment system doesnÂ’t support Apple CarPlay at launch, so it was almost poetic when the iPhone I used to shoot the above video fought me tooth-and-nail when I tried to share it via Google Drive. Relax, iPhoners. Volvo says an OTA update with CarPlay support is coming. But let's face it, when it comes to maps, Google is Google, and since you get it natively here, it works exactly the way you'd expect it to. Google Assistant is there to handle your voice commands too. There's even ample room in the rear for a future Google Bathroom Attendant, should you feel that you're just not getting quite enough Google in your diet.  If you've driven a recent Volvo, the infotainment system will probably look familiar to you. Despite the architectural overhaul and obvious Google ecosystem UI elements, it still feels like a Volvo system. I suppose that could be either good or bad, depending on how you feel about Volvo's user experience, which tends to eschew menu-diving in favor of pretty much putting every possible feature on the screen at the exact same time. That may sound overwhelming, but there's an organizational method to this pixelated madness.  Google's approach uses a simple scroll when you run out of home screen (yes, like a smartphone) and has collapsing drop-downs in the app menu for categories with more icons than will fit in the allotted span. For apps, settings and other such menus, this works a treat. Obviously, you don't want to be scrolling through things like cabin temperature or fan speeds, so you get more conventionally laid-out menus for both, for better or for worse.

Geely to release models developed with Volvo in 2015

Geely and Volvo will finally team up for a jointly developed vehicle, more than three years after the safety-minded Swedish brand was gobbled up by Geely's parent company, according to a report in Automotive News Europe. The story quotes Geely's CEO, Gui Sheng Yue saying, "We have entered into actual research and development stage and I believe we can see the new product in the year after next."
That means 2015, which is a mighty ambitious timetable to bring a vehicle to market. But as Geely's CEO explains, life isn't going to get any easier in the Chinese market, "Competitive pressure on domestic brands in the China market should increase considerably in the coming years as most major international brands are strengthening their presence," he told ANE. Those statements also tell us that we shouldn't expect to see Geely on American shores any time soon. The brand is simply too focused on topping the Chinese market, at least among CDM brands.

Verizon buys Telogis in connected vehicle market push

(Note/disclaimer: We are owned by Verizon, by way of AOL. This gives us no inside track whatsoever when it comes to news.) With a lot of tech companies and automakers staking their claims in the connected car space, now there are signs that others are looking to move in, too. Today, telecoms giant Verizon announced that it is acquiring Telogis, a California-based company that develops cloud-based solutions for mobile workforces, and specifically telematics, compliance and navigation software used by Ford, Volvo, GM and other car companies, as well as Apple and AT&T. Financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed, although we'll try to find out. Considering that Verizon in 2015 reported full-year revenues of $131.6 billion, the price would have to be very high to be considered "material" and may not be made public for some time, if ever. Telogis in its time as a startup raised a substantial amount of money, just over $126 million in all, including $93 million in 2013, supposedly ahead of an IPO, all from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Back in 2013 when KPCB made its investment (which was the first from a VC firm in the company), Telogis told TechCrunch it was profitable and forecasting revenues of $100 million annually for the year. It's not clear what size those revenues are now, but if it was on the same growth trajectory as before the funding, sales would be around $150 million annually, with profitability, at the moment. Other investors include some very notable strategics: the investment arm of General Motors, and Fontinalis Partners, which also invests in Lyft and was co-founded by Bill Ford, the executive chairman of the Ford Motor Company. Before the acquisition, Verizon actually had a business in fleet management and telematics; in fact, the two companies competed against each other for business from the trucking and other industries. Verizon Telematics, as the business is called, is active in 40 countries. But in a way, Verizon buying Telogis is a sign that the latter may have proved to be the more superior, and the one with the key customer deals.