Volvo integrates Waze app onto models' infotainment

MANILA: Volvo Cars has integrated Waze onto its vehicles’ infotainment systems with Google built-in, a move that has made the navigation application in-car to drivers in the US and Asia Pacific for the first time as well.

“Our in-car app library just grew one app larger today as Waze becomes available to all Volvo cars around the globe with Google built-in. Our collaboration also brings the in-car Waze app to drivers in the US and the Asia Pacific for the first time,” the Swedish carmaker boasted in a release.

Waze functions, such as real-time routing, navigation, and alerts, are accessible to Volvo drivers after they download the app from the Google Play Store in their car. Since Waze is displayed on the sizeable center screen of the car, users can navigate the application more comfortably on “a bigger and bolder eye-level display area,” Volvo said.

“The in-car Waze app helps make your everyday journey easier by avoiding phone-related hassles and distractions while continuing to offer the excellent functionalities that you’ve come to expect from the Waze app on your mobile phone,” the carmaker’s release added.

Meanwhile, Director for Marketing and Partnerships at Waze Aron Di Castro said:. “Having Waze’s real-time navigation, routing, and alerts seamlessly displayed in the car, without needing to connect your phone to the car, makes for a simplified and seamless driving experience.”

Previously, Volvo Cars and its strategic subsidiary Polestar said they will be the first automakers to incorporate Google's HD map technology, which offers extremely detailed and current road information, into their vehicles beginning with the recently announced Volvo EX90 and Polestar 3.

Volvo will be able to facilitate assisted-driving features like lane change assistance and Volvo Cars' Pilot Assist technology, as well as future autonomous driving functionality, by integrating Google's HD map. This will allow Volvo to combine data from its industry-leading sensor set in the 2024 Volvo EX90 with Google's precise lane-level and localization data.

“Implementing Google HD Maps in our upcoming cars will help us offer our drivers a more enjoyable driving experience and in the future contribute to the introduction of safe autonomous driving,” a Volvo executive expressed in a previous release.

Photos from Volvo

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