Volvo Cars to Develop Next Generation Automotive Technologies With Microsoft

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GOTHENBURG, Sweden, Nov. 20, 2015 /PRNewswire=KYODO JBN / --

Volvo Cars, the premium car maker, will work together with Microsoft, the

leading platform and productivity company, to jointly develop next generation

automotive technologies.

To view the Multimedia News Release, please click:

http://www.multivu.com/players/English/7668751-volvo-the-virtual-showroom/

The two companies today revealed how Microsoft HoloLens, the world's first

fully untethered holographic computer, might be used in future to redefine how

customers first encounter and explore a car, as well as how cars might be

bought and sold in future.

Areas of future collaboration between the two companies could include

autonomous driving technologies and the utilisation of data generated from

connected cars to create new services.

Today's HoloLens demonstration was conducted at Microsoft's global headquarters

in Redmond, USA, and showed how mixed reality might be used by customers to

configure cars in three dimensions. With HoloLens, a powerful, wearable

computer, holograms are mixed into the physical world.

"HoloLens offers the freedom to create a bespoke experience which customers can

steer themselves. Imagine using mixed reality to choose the type of car you

want - to explore the colours, rims, or get a better understanding of the

features, services and options available," said Bjorn Annwall, Senior Vice

President, Marketing, Sales and Service.

He added HoloLens technology might also liberate dealers from more traditional

sales environments and allow them to take a car configurator out on the road in

small Pop-Up stores, shopping malls or on the high street, opening up new sales

channels and introducing cars to a far larger potential audience.

At the HoloLens demonstration today, participating journalists were also given

a mixed reality preview of Volvo's new S90 premium sedan, which will be

unveiled in reality at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit in

January.

Today's event offered an indication of the potential of mixed reality to

transform the relationship between the customer and the car. Journalists were

able to experience Volvo's new sedan and its latest autonomous driving

technology in 3D before the car has even been built and launched.

"We are thrilled to be working with Volvo Cars to reimagine what is possible in

car design, discovery and purchasing. We are excited to be at this intersection

of technology and human-centric design with Volvo," Scott Erickson, Senior

Director, Microsoft HoloLens at Microsoft Corp.

Today's demonstration marks the beginning of longer term cooperation between

Volvo and Microsoft that will embrace a range of new technologies, all of which

have implications for the automotive industry.

One area of focus will be autonomous driving. Volvo Cars is a pioneer in car

safety and is leading the way when it comes to connected cars and autonomous

driving. It has announced a programme called Drive-Me in which 100 self-driving

and connected cars will be given to real customers on real roads around the

Swedish city of Gothenburg by 2017, the world's largest autonomous driving

experiment.

Other areas of cooperation are expected to include how information gathered by

cars and their drivers can be used to enhance the driving experience and the

possibility of using predictive analytics to improve safety.

"We are extremely happy to innovate with Microsoft in the field of future

mobility," said Klas Bendrik, Senior Vice President and Chief Information

Officer at Volvo Cars. "Today's technology will allow us to achieve not only a

more sustainable and crash-free future but also new benefits for our customers

and society. Together with Microsoft we aim to pioneer in this field."

Sascha Heiniger

sascha.heiniger@volvocars.com

Tel: +46-723-717961

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Source: Volvo Car Group