Tag Archives: OTA

2022 Volvos, With Google Android ‘Infotainment’ System, Will SOON Get ‘Sirius XM’ Radio, AT LAST, Via An ‘Over-The-Air’ (OTA) Update. Hallelujah!

by Anura Guruge
on October 29, 2021

Click to **ENLARGE** & read here. ***Link to ‘Carscoops’ original***.

Finally. About time. So many ‘poor’ Volvo 2022 XC40 & X60 customers will be so happy & relieved. Volvo dealers can also now stop having to show them how to get Sirius XM in their Volvos using their phone. I, for one, would not have been happy. In a way it is a blessing, is disguise, that I still haven’t got the 2022 Volvo XC60 I ordered on August 15, 2021.

Click to access my ***August 6, 2021 post***.

Volvo, as you can see from my above post, has said, since August, ‘November or December’ for the Sirius XM support. Well, it will be Monday in 3 days — i.e., Monday. So, Volvo is on track.

What we don’t know is how these OTA updates will work — & how effective they will be.

What kind of Internet connection will you need to get the OTAs? We still don’t fully know.

OTA is the right way to go. Yes, I have much OTA experience with my Google Pixel phones & my Garmin smartwatches. OTA works well with them. With Volvo? Still an unknown. Knowing Volvo they probably will do their utmost to screw up a few times to begin with.

I can just see it. “Yes. Yes. It is OTA but your car needs to be within 2′ of a Volvo dealership with a Volvo technician seated in the car“. Oh! Volvo!

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Volvo’s New Google-Based ‘Infotainment’ System, Will Not Have ‘Android Auto’ Or ‘Apple CarPlay’ Support Till 1Q2022!

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by Anura Guruge
on August 9, 2021

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Please check this latest update — based on hands on experience.

Click image to access this ***November 4, 2021 post***.

As with the lack of ‘Sirius XM’ radio support, this is NOT a joke. This is too serious a matter to kid about.

That a Google Android-based system cannot support ‘Android Auto’ sounds like an oxymoron. Alas, it is NOT. This is reality. IF you buying a new 2022 Volvo (as I am) check with Volvo or a Dealer. [I feel bad for the Dealers. This is outside their control & they are, obviously, not too amused. This might even cost some of them some sales.]

From what I gather, this delay, especially when it comes to Android Auto might be ‘contractual‘, i.e., Google not being able to offer support for Android Auto ahead of ‘Apple CarPlay’. Apple might have grounds to complain & the European Union (EU) is already giving Google plenty of grief about its monopolistic practices. So, Google has to be seen as playing fair.

Well, for I, with my 40-year background in the computer industry this is but deja vu (all over again). Modern cars have become computers on wheels, so reliant on software. We all know about software updates — whether it be computers, phones, smartwatches, set-top units or even TVs. Now the game has moved to cars.

With this new Google Android infotainment system Volvo can do ‘over-the-air’ (OTA) software updates.

As with Sirius XM, support for Android Auto & Apple CarPlay will be added via such an OTA update.

Purely by coincidence YouTube offered me this video as a recommendation today. I haven’t had chance to watch it all, but he appears to be far from happy about the new system. YIKES. I have already ordered my new 2022 Volvo XC60 — with a November 2021 delivery (with luck).