Peter Lyon
March 19, 2026
Volvo Cars has captured numerous awards over the years, including the 2025 World Luxury Car award, the 2016 North American Utility of the Year prize, and the 2018 European Car of the Year for its XC40. Now, Volvo Cars has achieved the highest-possible ranking on carmakers’ software defined capabilities by S&P Global Mobility. It is the only legacy carmaker globally to reach Level 5 SDV (software-defined vehicle) capability.
The recognition highlights Volvo Cars’ ability to improve nearly every function of the car throughout its lifecycle and offer better value to customers, through software. For example, it can use over-the-air updates (OTA) to add safety features, unlock faster charging speeds, increase driving range and enhance user experience.
“Years of focused engineering efforts and investments have given Volvo software capabilities that only a select few in the industry have achieved,” said Håkan Samuelsson, CEO of Volvo Cars. “This has enabled us to deliver a step change in customer experiences and development speed.”
Software-defined vehicles hold the transformational power to continuously improve Volvo cars on the roads and further raise the bar for safety. Following its technological transformation – the biggest in the company’s nearly 100-year history – Volvo Cars can now quickly turn real-world data into intelligence to train future safety and assistance systems.
Volvo Cars’ in house developed core system, HuginCore™, features electrical architecture, a core computer, zone controllers and software. Sitting at the heart of the company’s three software defined cars – the EX90, ES90 and EX60 – it enables better customer experiences, faster innovation and scalable improvements across the entire car lineup.
CARLIST THOUGHTS
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