As an XC40 Recharge owner I'm slowly realizing that Volvo/Geely really bet the farm on having a single system run the car and the IVI. There's no other explanation why an OTA upgrade to the system to improve silly little things like ETA in the map display suddenly made the OPD braking system fail. And the backup camera setup still isn't right.
Throwing a faster system at it is a band-aid. It's scary. My car is still on an old 2023 release of code and I'm keeping it there until it's sold. If the backup camera fails again, I'll use the glass window. At least that works.
My dealer invited me to see the EX90 "demo unit" a year and half ago. A demo unit that wasn't drivable and came with a Volvo employee admonishing us from touching any of the controls. Where do I wire my deposit?
The continual and repeated failures of OEM software are Conway's law in action. It's not that the developers are uniquely incapable of writing software. The constraints of the organization make good software a virtually impossible goal.
Moving to a new board based on the same hardware with dual SoCs might help a few bugs around the edges (though I have my doubts), but it doesn't address more fundamental causes. I hope I'm wrong, but I'm afraid it's going to take another 2008-esque disaster for them to really "get" it.
Anybody who thinks “software defined vehicle” is a selling point has never managed software.
I don’t want my vehicle to function “because software”. I want it to function “despite software”.
As an XC40 Recharge owner I'm slowly realizing that Volvo/Geely really bet the farm on having a single system run the car and the IVI. There's no other explanation why an OTA upgrade to the system to improve silly little things like ETA in the map display suddenly made the OPD braking system fail. And the backup camera setup still isn't right.
Throwing a faster system at it is a band-aid. It's scary. My car is still on an old 2023 release of code and I'm keeping it there until it's sold. If the backup camera fails again, I'll use the glass window. At least that works.
My dealer invited me to see the EX90 "demo unit" a year and half ago. A demo unit that wasn't drivable and came with a Volvo employee admonishing us from touching any of the controls. Where do I wire my deposit?
The continual and repeated failures of OEM software are Conway's law in action. It's not that the developers are uniquely incapable of writing software. The constraints of the organization make good software a virtually impossible goal.
Moving to a new board based on the same hardware with dual SoCs might help a few bugs around the edges (though I have my doubts), but it doesn't address more fundamental causes. I hope I'm wrong, but I'm afraid it's going to take another 2008-esque disaster for them to really "get" it.
previously (july 22 2025) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44652374 "My Volvo EX90 Experience"
Guy made a CVE style disclosure page about all the issues he'd experienced with his EX90. This feels related.
Why is the ADAS computer the same one as the infotainment computer?
Pay no attention to that. Did we mention it's NVIDIA? They're cool, right?
They just launched the 2026 version, so good timing.
Anybody who thinks “software defined vehicle” is a selling point has never managed software. I don’t want my vehicle to function “because software”. I want it to function “despite software”.
This is the first I'd heard the phrase "software defined vehicle". That's a chilling combination of words to me.
This has been creeping in since early 2000s.
Made me shudder