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The Volvo Polestar 2 Is the First Google-Powered, All-Electric Car (theverge.com)
The Polestar 2 is the first all-electric car from Volvo, and the first car to feature Google's new native version of Android Auto. Billed as a competitor to Tesla's Model 3, "the Polestar 2 should be able to travel up to 275 miles (about 443 kilometers) on a single charge thanks to a 78kWh battery that makes up the entire floor of the car," reports The Verge. "It will be quick, too; Polestar says there's 300kW (about 408 horsepower) to play with, spread across dual electric motors. That all-wheel drive power should help the car get from 0 to 60 miles per hour in under 5 seconds." From the report: All this will eventually cost about 39,900 euros, or about $45,000, at the cheapest. Polestar will sell versions of the car that cost as much as 59,900 euros, or about $68,000. But none of that will happen until the second year of production. The version available when the car launches later this year will cost $63,000, and Polestar will make only that "launch edition" car for the first 12 months. Pre-orders are open now, and production begins next year in China (where Volvo's Chinese parent company Geely is headquartered). Polestar's launching the car with in an ambitious slate of markets, too: China, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and Belgium.
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[T]he Polestar 2's interior looks more fully developed and coherent than the one in the Polestar 1, to my eyes at least. The centerpiece is an 11-inch portrait oriented touchscreen where the company's Android-based infotainment system lives. Car companies have built infotainment systems on Android in the past, but they essentially had to fork the open source operating system and build their own solution on top. What's more, Google wasn't involved in those efforts. This meant the cars would wind up with outdated versions of Google's operating system, which complicated upgrades and security. [...] A big benefit to this embedded approach is customers will have instant access to Android Auto-approved apps like Google Maps, or Play Music, or Google Assistant without needing to use their smartphones. Another is that it will have access to the car's functions, meaning it can control climate settings, or send you maintenance alerts. This native version of Android will also be updatable, meaning Polestar and Google can push over-the-air software updates to improve the car's functions long after it's sold.
[...]
[T]he Polestar 2's interior looks more fully developed and coherent than the one in the Polestar 1, to my eyes at least. The centerpiece is an 11-inch portrait oriented touchscreen where the company's Android-based infotainment system lives. Car companies have built infotainment systems on Android in the past, but they essentially had to fork the open source operating system and build their own solution on top. What's more, Google wasn't involved in those efforts. This meant the cars would wind up with outdated versions of Google's operating system, which complicated upgrades and security. [...] A big benefit to this embedded approach is customers will have instant access to Android Auto-approved apps like Google Maps, or Play Music, or Google Assistant without needing to use their smartphones. Another is that it will have access to the car's functions, meaning it can control climate settings, or send you maintenance alerts. This native version of Android will also be updatable, meaning Polestar and Google can push over-the-air software updates to improve the car's functions long after it's sold.
... than the one in my car, which just displays the map from my phone and plays some music.
Slower.
More expensive.
Made in China.
pass....
"You want to know how to help your kids? Leave them the fuck alone." -George Carlin
Without ten years or more of Android updates this is a complete waste of time. Unless it can be flashed to a different, newer system, the resale value will be low. I can see buying a car that I'll send to e-waste in three years.
Volvo cars is a Chinese company (you are who you are owned by when it comes to corporations), so it is hardly surprising it is made in China. What that Chinese company is of course doing is trading on the European Brand of Volvo to pump up the profit margins, so likely to be well overly brand monetised and under performing. Nothing to do with China, just the way modern corporations and their marketing agencies work, bullshit and profits first and everything else optional even adhering to the law if the penalties are less than the profits because the executives who do it suffer NO penalties.
I personally think, they will come a cropper, playing European car when it is actually a Chinese car, the internet is becoming very unforgiving of corporate bullshit. Better to have gone with Volvo China but then why buy a dying brand.
Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
The Renault Zoe is around €26,000 ex VAT, with a range of 300+ km. The Hyundai Ioniq is around the same price with slightly less range. There are plenty of EV's for a lot less money, but with considerably less range.
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
I liked it better when my horse was powered by Apache.
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
Google know where you go anyway, your cell phone tell it.
I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
I've gotten Google as much out of my life as I possibly can. No way I'm going to buy a car that's literally integrated with Google as a "feature".
It was designed and developed by Volvo in Europe. It's like an iPhone - it may be made in China but most people would say it's a western product, with Volvo quality and support networks.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
Already is...
https://www.bbc.com/news/busin...
Just another day in Paradise