Volvo Cars opens new software testing centre
The Swedish car manufacturer has for quite some time, and loudly, about its plans to be a fully electric car company by 2030. A plan that requires continuous investments. Now Volvo Cars is opening a new software testing centre in Sweden
Volvo Cars says that its new generation of fully electric Volvo cars is hardware designed, but software-defined.
As part of its strategy, the company is continuously investing in its in-house software development and testing capabilities. Today, Volvo unveiled its biggest investments to date: a new software testing centre in Gothenburg, Sweden that amplifies the car manufacturers' capacity for integrated software testing at all levels.
Measuring 22,000 square metres and with a price tag of around SEK 300 million (EUR 25.7 million), the new software testing centre is the company's new flagship in its network of engineering centres and Tech Hubs around the world. Volvo Cars also operates software test centres in Lund, Sweden and Shanghai, China, but this new Gothenburg facility is by far the largest in terms of size and capacity.
"We’re going to need that capacity, because as our EX90 flagship demonstrates, the automotive industry is rapidly changing. The Volvo car of the future is fully electric, increasingly sold online, powered by cutting-edge core computers running in-house developed software and constantly improves over time thanks to regular over-the-air software updates," the company writes in a press release.
The new software testing facility will initially employ around 100 people, a figure that is expected to grow to 300 once the testing centre is running at full capacity. Eventually, the site will house around 500 testing rigs and digital test environments, up from almost 200 right now.
“This is a state-of-the-art facility that will be the hub for our global software testing and validation activities,” said Anders Bell, global head of R&D, in the press release. “Developers from all our global engineering sites and tech hubs can run software tests here remotely, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. I firmly believe that with this new testing centre, we’ve set a new benchmark for the automotive industry.”
The Gothenburg site will work closely together with other engineering centres around the globe that play a central role in software development. Last month, the company established a new Tech Hub in Singapore, while we announced its plans for another software-focused Tech Hub in Krakow, Poland in February.
