Volvo is doubling down on its commitment to CarPlay, according to Anders Bell, the company’s chief engineering and technology officer. In an interview with The Drive this week, Bell promised that Volvo will “absolutely” continue to offer CarPlay and Android Auto in its cars, including EVs.
Another automaker vows to continue offering CarPlay
“Yes, absolutely we will,” Bell said when asked whether Volvo will continue to support CarPlay. “It’s kind of part of our mentality on this. We want to integrate it to your digital life, not force you to something. So, we need to adapt to you, whatever your digital ecosystem is as a customer, you make your choices.”
One thing that’s unclear is whether Volvo will support CarPlay Ultra. Interestingly, Volvo was touted as an initial CarPlay Ultra partner by Apple, but the Financial Times reported last year that the automaker had decided not to support the platform.
In this week’s interview, Bell said that Volvo has worked to develop a “really nice integration of Apple CarPlay.”
Volvo’s long-term goal is to offer the “best absolutely native experience” with its own infotainment system, Bell explained. “But if you want to have Android Auto, or if you want to have Apple CarPlay, we should have the best supremely good integration. It’s like the customer needs to choose.”
Bell also acknowledged one of the reasons CarPlay exists: “the infotainment system was so shitty back in the day in the cars.”
Volvo’s comments come as GM has repeatedly insisted it is making the right recision in dropping CarPlay from all of its cars. Ford CFO Sherry House, meanwhile, reaffirmed the automaker’s comithtemnt to CarPlay last month.
Volvo this week unveiled its new EX60 SUV, as our friends over at Electrek reported. The EX60 SUV will offer a native Apple Music app, including support for Spatial Audio.
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