Update: Volvo has issued a statement that the delay is not related to the LiDAR system: “The Volvo EX90 is highly advanced and features a shift to core computing and a next-generation sensor set including a lidar. The adjusted time plan for start of production of the EX90 communicated on May 11 is connected to additional time needed for SW development, but it is not related to the lidar integration.”
Volvo has revealed that the reason behind the recent six-month delay of the all-electric EX90 SUV comes down to the software complexity of its advanced LiDAR system.
While the EX90 is not the first production car to use a LiDAR, it is the first Volvo with such technology. Volvo Cars chief executive Jim Rowan confirmed during the brand’s most recent earnings call that the “complexity of the software code” related to the advanced safety system is the reason for its “five- or six-month delay.”
“We’re writing a lot of [the] software ourselves,” he said. “We wanted to make sure that the first time we put lidar into our safety stack… it operates in the way it should.”
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The LiDAR being used by Volvo is sourced from self-driving sensor startup Luminar Technologies. This system forms part of the EX90’s advanced road-monitoring package that also includes cameras, radars, and ultrasonic sensors, and is said to be able to detect pedestrians up to 820 feet (250 meters) away. Luminar is also supplying the carmaker with its Sentinel software, although this needs to be integrated with the EX90’s in-car software.
“The difference lidar can make for real-life safety is remarkable,” Rowan told Auto News. “Research indicates that adding lidar to a car can reduce accidents with severe outcomes by up to 20 percent, and overall crash avoidance can be improved by up to 9 percent.”
Volvo will build the EX90 at its factory in Ridgeville, South Carolina. While the original plan called for production to commence in late 2023, it has now been pushed back until mid-2024. Despite its delay in hitting the market, ex-Volvo Americas boss Anders Gustafsson believes it will be the brand’s best-selling EV in the United States.
