Volvo Cars looks to Nvidia-powered software, 'megacastings' for future EVs

Volvo Cars will use a single software system backed by powerful chips from Nvidia for all future models and will rely on "megacastings" to cut costs for electric cars, the company said on Thursday.

In releases ahead of a planned investor event in Gothenburg, Volvo said that starting with its flagship electric EX90 model - which the Swedish automaker will begin delivering to customers this month - it will have a single "technology stack" for all car models.

The EX90's software system is backed by Nvidia's DRIVE Orin system-on-a-chip, which is capable of over 250 trillion operations per second (TOPS) and will be replaced later this decade by a chip capable of 1,000 trillion TOPS, Volvo said.

That software will help Volvo build better safety systems for its cars and constantly improve vehicles in circulation via over-the-air updates, Chief Engineering & Technology Officer Anders Bell told Reuters.

Most major automakers say software-defined electric vehicles (EVs) will provide opportunities to generate billions of dollars in additional revenue from selling subscription services, but Bell said Volvo will not pursue that business model.

"The primary goal is to make the car better and have a more sticky product, not to sell a lot of subscriptions," he said.

Bell said Volvo will rely on "megacastings", which like gigacasting use massive presses to make large single aluminium pieces of vehicle underbodies.

Using those large single pieces lowers costs as they replace many individual pieces that need to be welded together.

Tesla has been a pioneer in the use of gigacasting, with a growing number of automakers including General Motors and Nissan following suit.

Bell said that through the use of megacasting, Volvo will also be able to greatly increase the use of recycled aluminium and reduce emissions throughout its supply chain.