#connected-vehicles

#connected-vehicles

Volvo Cars will be allowed to import and sell connected cars with Chinese hardware and software in the U.S., despite a Department of Commerce ban. The Swedish automaker, which is owned by China's Geely, got a special authorization. Volvo builds the best-selling XC60 in China, as well as the smaller XC40. Volvo, the Swedish automaker that's owned by China's Geely, will be allowed to import and sell connected cars with Chinese hardware and software in the United States, despite a Department of Commerce rule that effectively bans vehicles with Chinese electronic brains and network connectivity.

As vehicles become platforms for software and subscriptions, their longevity is increasingly tied to the survival of the companies behind their code. When those companies fail, the consequences ripple far beyond a bad app update and into the basic question of whether a car still functions as a car. Over the years, automotive software has expanded from performing rudimentary engine management and onboard diagnostics to powering today's interconnected, software-defined vehicles.

The in-vehicle technology has been designed to unify cockpit, driver assistance, body control and connectivity - including Wi-Fi 6 and 5G mobile comms - on one system. Making its debut at CES 2026, the dual‑chipset architecture is claimed to deliver "exceptional" compute performance to streamline vehicle electronics, reduce system complexity and enable more advanced AI capabilities across the entire vehicle.

When you see a car, truck or bus making its way down the road, who do you assume is control of it? This isn't a trick question. Decades ago, there would have been one answer: the person behind the wheel. In more recent years, as vehicles became increasingly connected to the internet and driver-assist and self-driving technology grew more widespread, it's not as clear if a driver is, well, a driver.

The security of Electronic Control Units (ECUs) has become paramount due to the interconnected nature of modern vehicles, leading to vast and vulnerable attack surfaces.

"How can we know what the problem is that customers are having before we send a patrol, so we make sure that whoever we send to support that customer, we get the right person there with the right skills in the shortest possible time to get people back on the road in the shortest possible time," he says.