Volvo and Polestar Are Retrofitting EVs With New Supercomputer Chips for Free
The Nvidia Drive AGX Orin processors are capable of 508 trillion operations per second and will help improve Volvo's existing safety systems. The post Volvo and Polestar Are Retrofitting EVs With New Supercomputer Chips for Free appeared first on The Drive.
Free car software updates are commonplace in today’s auto industry, especially for electric vehicles. Hardware updates are a different story, though. Car companies don’t usually issue a physical part upgrade unless it’s part of a recall. But now, Volvo and Polestar are doing something a little unprecedented by offering a supercomputer chip upgrade for the EX90 and Polestar 3 EVs free to customers.
Volvo is swapping out its old chipset for two of Nvidia’s brand new Nvidia Drive AGX Orin processors, each of which is capable of around 508 trillion operations per second (TOPS). That’s eight times more powerful than the outgoing chips and will help give Volvo and Polestar’s EVs much improved AI-based safety features and self-driving capabilities. The automakers say it’s necessary processing power to fully take advantage of all the sensors and self-driving hardware Volvo is stuffing into its cars, like lidar, five radar sensors, eight cameras, and twelve ultrasonic sensors.
This hardware upgrade is possible because of Volvo’s Superset tech stack, which is one single set of hardware and software systems that underpin all of its EVs. It allows for easy upgrades, so Volvos already on the road aren’t stuck in the past as new tech comes out.
The first car to come with these Nvidia AGX Orin chips right out of the box is the Volvo ES90 sedan. When it’s unveiled in a couple of weeks, the ES90 will be Volvo’s most technologically advanced car. But it won’t be for long, as Volvo upgrades existing EX90 seven-seat SUV and Polestar 3 models. Customers will of course have to bring their cars to dealers to get the upgrade, but they’ll drive away with far more advanced cars than what they drove in, without paying a dime (unless they get upsold on other repairs or detailing while they’re in the shop). All 2026 model-year EX90s and Polestar 3s will come with the new Orin chipsets from the factory, but with this new hardware upgrade, existing customers won’t have to be left behind and can enjoy the same upgrades as newer customers.
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The post Volvo and Polestar Are Retrofitting EVs With New Supercomputer Chips for Free appeared first on The Drive.
