Modern life is very good at getting our attention. Phones buzz, watches tap our wrists, apps send notifications and screens compete for our eyes with increasing enthusiasm.
Cars have joined in, too. Step into some of the newest models and it can feel as though you’re in the electronics section of a department store – there are huge displays with endless menus and more functions than you’ll ever use. It often makes me wonder whether anybody has remembered the person in the middle of all this technology is supposed to be driving.
That’s why the idea of “calm technology” suddenly feels timely and radical. The most sophisticated technology shouldn’t necessarily be the technology you notice most; often, it should be doing its job quietly in the background, reducing the number of things you have to think about rather than adding to them. This is an interesting direction for Volvo – it describes the new EX60 as its most intelligent car to date, yet the ambition is for all that complexity to make the car feel simpler.
Anders Bell, Volvo Cars’ former chief engineering and technology officer who has just moved to a role focused on digital tech, said when the EX60 was unveiled that, for all the talk about software-defined vehicles: “We’re always a car company.” It sounds almost obvious, but it is a useful philosophy when technology can sometimes appear to be an end in itself. The purpose isn’t to impress the driver with computing power; it is to make the car easier, safer and more intuitive to live with.
Google Gemini is probably the clearest example. The EX60 is the first Volvo to launch with Google’s AI assistant deeply integrated into the car. Instead of learning precise voice commands and hoping the system understands them, the idea is that you speak naturally. You might ask it to find the address of a hotel booking in your emails, work out whether something you’ve just bought will fit in the boot or help plan a road trip. For me, the most interesting part isn’t really that the car can do those things, it’s that you don’t have to think about how to ask.
Poor technology creates unnecessary friction – and that can be dangerous. All too often I’ve experienced systems where you press, swipe, back out of the wrong menu and try again, or voice control that demands exactly the right phrase. Volvo’s HuginCore system sits behind the EX60, with computing from Nvidia and Qualcomm, but owners need never know what processor is doing what. What they should notice is that screens respond quickly, maps appear without delay and the car understands what they are asking for. The clever bit is that it doesn’t feel complicated.
There’s longevity to that thinking, too. Bell gave me an example of that at the EX60 launch, telling me that every Volvo with an Android Automotive system from model year 2021 onwards would get a major interface update remotely delivered, followed by installing Gemini. An older car, in other words, does not necessarily have to feel frozen at the point when it left the factory.
But calmness in a car is about far more than software. It starts with the physical environment, and this is where Scandinavian design has always had an advantage. There is a tendency to reduce Scandinavian design to pale wood and clean lines, but Thomas Ingenlath, Volvo Cars’ chief design officer, sees it as something more instinctive.
“Our design language – inside and out – is deeply rooted in our unique Swedish identity,” he says. “For us as designers, I believe you don’t have to be born Swedish to create great Scandinavian design. Living here, experiencing nature and the seasons, the many hours of light in summer and the many hours of darkness in winter. You cannot help but be influenced by it as you create a new Volvo design. The EX60 is proof of it – designed to make you feel safe at all times.”
You can see that thinking in the EX60’s cabin. Natural materials make the interior feel warm rather than clinical, while clever storage reduces visual clutter. Even the lighting is approached as atmosphere rather than a spectacle: there are six ambient lighting themes inspired by nature, from soft moonlight to the glow of a summer dusk. There is also a feature that mimics dappled sunlight filtering through trees. An optional electrochromic panoramic roof can alter its transparency at the touch of a button, while air purification works away in the background. None of these things makes the car faster. Together, though, they change how a journey feels.
There is also a 28-speaker Bowers & Wilkins audio system, including headrest speakers for the four main seats, with Apple Music* and Dolby Atmos available. It could easily be presented as technological showmanship, but the more interesting idea is intimacy: bringing sound closer to the occupants rather than simply filling the cabin with more noise. In my view, it’s the best audio system I’ve ever experienced in a car.
The same principles apply to safety. Volvo’s Driver Understanding System watches for tiredness or distraction and can support the driver if attention starts to drift; cabin sensors can detect extremely small movements from occupants, while the car’s other sensors read the world outside. Ideally, you don’t spend a journey thinking about any of it. The systems are there, ready to help, but the best journey is the one in which they have little reason to announce themselves.
For years, automotive progress was easy to demonstrate with numbers: more power, higher top speed, bigger screens, more features. The next phase may be harder to put on a billboard. It is technology that asks less of us; an interior that lowers the temperature of the day rather than raising it; a car clever enough not to keep reminding you how clever it is.
In a world in which almost everything seems determined to demand another slice of our attention, that may turn out to be a more valuable kind of progress. The future of driving doesn’t necessarily need to feel faster. It might simply feel calmer. I like the sound of that.
Freedom to move. Electric
Find out more about the fully electric Volvo EX60
Range and charge time based on P12 battery using 350kw chargers mostly found on major arterial routes. These figures may not reflect real life driving results, which will depend upon a number of factors including cold weather and different battery options. Preliminary data.
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* Apple Music subscription required.
