Ford has been the reigning champ so far when it comes to in car entertainment and connectivity thanks to their Ford Sync system, but now Swedish Car makers Volvo have something up their sleeve to rake in the customer who wants to be connected. With the launch of Sensus Connect, Volvo reveals an updated on-board infotainment and navigation solution. Volvo Cars can now truly offer customers a fully connected experience. The cloud-based services allow drivers to find and pay for parking from their car, discover new restaurants at their destination, stream their favourite music seamlessly and much more. Sensus Connect also offers the first ever solution utilizing built-in connectivity supported by Pandora Internet Radio.
Thousands of radio stations can now be enjoyed in the car and the new navigation system allows the driver to not only set destinations through their mobile device and get exciting information about their surroundings through Wikipedia, but also lets them find and pay for parking at their destination. The Park&Pay application – a world-first provided by Volvo Cars – is based on car2infrastructure communication and points the way to new possibilities when the car starts to “communicate” with its surroundings. The new system will be available on all new Volvo models produced in May 2014.
The 2014 Volvo Sensus solutions will include the following features:
Entertainment
- Pandora – internet radio
- 100,000 global radio stations through TuneIn
- Rdio – streaming music service
- Stitcher – on-demand radio shows and podcasts
- Regional audiobook solutions
Navigation
- Upgraded navigation system with 3D graphics and lifetime map upgrades
- Park&Pay by Parkopedia – find available parking and pay for it from your car
- Yelp – find local services, e.g. restaurants, with reviews
- Glympse – dynamic, temporary location sharing
- HERE by Nokia – cloud connected services to provide seamless and connected navigation to drivers
- Send to Car – find your destination on your phone and send it to your car’s navigation system
- Wikipedia – enriched local points-of-interest information
Interface
- Refreshed HMI with graphically themed centre and driver displays
- Voice control and text-to-speech
Connectivity
- Integrated roof-top antenna and embedded 3G modem
- Wi-Fi hotspot in the car
- Smartphone tethering (Wi-Fi and Bluetooth)
- Bluetooth audio streaming and hands-free calling
Services
- Smartphone app – connecting your phone to your car
- Connected service booking – car knows when service is due and will pre-book itself for a convenient service appointment at Volvo dealership