Delivering An Unprecedented User Experience, Volvo Embeds Epic Games’ ‘Unreal Engine’ Into EVs

Through a new alliance with Epic Games, Volvo Cars is embedding photorealistic visualisation technology called the ‘Unreal Engine’ into its next generation of electric vehicles.

To offer the best user experience in its EVs, the game engine will provide unprecedented high-quality graphics inside the cabin.

Volvo Cars’ chief product officer, Henrik Green, commented, "To offer our customers the best possible user experience and contribute to a safe and personal drive, we need rich, immersive and responsive visualisation inside our cars. Running ‘Unreal Engine’ in our cars enables this and makes it even more enjoyable to spend time inside a Volvo."

Developed by Epic Games, the ‘Unreal Engine’ is widely known to be the most advanced real-time 3D creation tool used in various industries beyond games.

Whereas for Volvo Cars, they will be the first European carmaker to use the ‘Unreal Engine’ for development of the Human Machine Interface (HMI). 

Primarily, the company will focus on the Driver Information Module (DIM), one of the displays inside the cabin that provide the driver with relevant information and infotainment features.

As such, in the next generation of Volvo cars, customers will encounter impressive, high-quality graphics on those displays. 

Much sharper renderings, richer colours and brand-new 3D animations are only the first steps as Volvo Cars developers continue to push the graphic envelope.

Notably, the ‘Unreal Engine’ will be coupled with the high-performance computing power of the third generation Snapdragon Cockpit Platforms.

Meaning, the next generation of Volvo cars will set a new benchmark in terms of graphics and infotainment system performances.

What’s more, Volvo Cars’ next generation infotainment system will be more than twice as fast as its predecessor, while graphics generation and processing inside the cabin will be up to ten times faster.

Epic Games’ director of automotive and HMI for Unreal Engine, Heiko Wenczel, said, “When you bring interactive, high-resolution graphics running in real-time into the car, you open the door to a vast range of new ways to inform and entertain everyone inside. Volvo Cars’ deeply talented design and product development teams have grasped this opportunity to do something fresh that will keep evolving with exciting new features that take advantage of the capabilities of ‘Unreal Engine’.” 

Significantly, the first car to contain the new graphics is the new, all-electric flagship model that Volvo Cars will reveal later this year. 

That model is the first of a new generation of all-electric Volvo cars as it aims to only sell pure electric cars by 2030.

Further into the future, the company sees additional opportunities for the ‘Unreal Engine’ to advance other areas of technology within new Volvo cars.

In short, Volvo Cars’ developers are continuously exploring new applications for this and other software-driven technology platforms while always keeping safety at the forefront.