XC90 software design
 

I have to vent my anger I'm afraid...

I have a new XC90 T8 and there are so many examples of poor software design in the XC90 I hardly know where to start. Such a shame that a good piece of motoring hardware, i.e. the car itself, is let down so badly by awful, inconvenient, inefficient and in some cases downright dangerous software design. I emphasise the word design - there are only a few examples of actual bugs in the car's code - it's what it has been programmed to do which is so awful. One or two examples (out of hundreds) I could give:

The person who designed the navigation system doesn't seemed to have worked out that almost half of the journeys made by the car will be to the same place - home! So you might expect that the nav system would have an easy way to say 'take me home'. But no. It takes 5 button presses to get the system to do it. This is despite the fact that there is plenty of screen space to put a 'take me home' button on there. I suspect that a 15-year old design technology student would have come up with a better solution. And I was in the US the other day driving a cheap South Korean car and I reached down to touch the nav screen and - amazing - it worked first time!!! I didn't have to adjust my finger pressure and roll it around on the screen to try to make it work.

There are countless such issues - like why does the charging lead lock on if you open the driver's door? If the car is on charge, and you get in, only to realise that the cable is still plugged in - you have to get out, lock it and then unlock it to be able to pull the charge cable out. The cable gets locked in at the point where someone opens a door. Why?????????????????? It's very inconvenient if other passengers have already got it.

Why does the car's system take so long to start? As soon as it senses the key is nearby it could at least get ready to start. But no. You get in (typically in a hurry), turn the start knob, and then you have time to read a short novel while the system gets ready to be able to let you engage a gear.

And how do you know when the car is switched off? You turn the start knob and all the displays stay on. Why?????????????????? If I turn the car off I want the car to switch off - is that so surprising?

If you engage Park, sometimes on a slight incline, the handbrake will come on as well, even though you have not set it to automatic handbrake mode. BUT, when you then press on the accelerator to go, the handbrake doesn't come off automatically - and it can even drag the back wheels along the ground if you're not careful - or at least that's what it sounds like. Why oh why does it do something automatically when you have disengaged automatic? And if it's going to ignore your wishes in one instance, why doesn't it ignore them in the other?

Why doesn't the Bluetooth connect to a phone if it's not already switched on when you first turn on the car? If someone with a phone that is already paired to the system wants to play a track, you have to stop the car, switch it off and back on again in order to make the connection!

I am only just scratching the surface here - I could go on and on - there are loads of instances like this. Why did I spend all that money on this car???

Interesting (and amusing) to read your note Bob, and I - and I'm sure many other people - can only agree and symphasize. It's almost as if the designers have never actually used a car before!

Anyway, just to help with your very first issue, hit the voice command button and say "take me home" and assuming you have programmed your home address it will do so - though, you'll have to wait a short while from starting the car for the voice command to become active …

Good luck, and really once you get very familiar with the systems it's not so bad (though that's not to excuse some poor design and implementation).

"It's almost as if the designers have never actually used a car before"

You can say that again.

And I do have home programmed in and I have tried saying "Take me home" but so far it hasn't worked. I will try again.

I have also tried saying "What can I say?" (a standard for voice systems) but it doesn't understand that either.

Here's another one...

When the navigation system gives you the name of an A road, it pronounces the A and 'uh' - so I find myself travelling up the uh-123 and not the Ay-123.

Didn't anyone notice this on THE VERY FIRST TIME they tried out the system.

When you are abroad this can be very confusing because, on unfamiliar roads, mispronunciation causes greater problems.

Not much point talking about it here , you should be writing a comprehensive list and talking to your volvo dealer who will submit it to the factory via their internal tech support .

I've tried to collate some common info here:
https://www.volvoclub.org.uk/spa/

though not updated recently.


For the voice command, I think if you say "help" then it will list some topics on the centre screen (ie: in front of you) that you can go through. For 'home' you need to save the address as home (can't remember exactly, just did it when I bought the car last year).

The "uh" for "A" has been commented on many many times, so I rather assume if Volvo wanted to do something about it they would have (maybe it sounds right in a Swedish, or Chinese, pronunciation?!).

I am sure some things are set in concrete for health and safety regarding hybrid charging cable etc.
I tbh do not seem to have half the issues you seem to have (listed).

I am pretty sure when you open drivers door it unlocks the cable, it will re lock if left to long to remove.
Phones connects every time on BT. although I find it amusing when using the radio and use voice to connect to BT media, and it says "BT media is not available" and then 10 secs later plays from BT media.
I find by the time I have turned ignition, select drive, changed mode, put on seat belt Sensus System is up and running, really not that long.
I certainly would not want it to fire up every time I walked past the car with the key in my pocket.

The T8's are quite unique in many ways and at first you find some things a chore, after a while they become 2nd nature.

Sat Nav has been updated quite often certainly of late, and I think some people have commented on improved speech.

Ignition well you know it is off, and on, dials etc. and when you open the door again you get to know what is off and on, it is just a learning process, I must admit the more confusing side of it is when you just want to sit in the car with out the engine running and listen to music, run ac, etc.

They are updating, and improving Software all the time, and it will not be too long before updates can be done via Wi Fi at home.

Give it time, nothing is perfect what ever car you have these days, and technology certainly makes it trying sometimes as it varies so much from car to car.

OP Another ?

Why is park an issue? it is called park for that reason, you are parking up and getting out, so saves you the job of putting on handbrake (I think you can turn this off in software somewhere)

I think the A brake is fantastic in traffic, when you stop, brake comes on and then when you just touch accelerator pedal you move off, why would you use when driving, unless you are in a traffic jam that clearly is not going to move for ages.

[QUOTE=MaDProFF;2454048]I am sure some things are set in concrete for health and safety regarding hybrid charging cable etc.
I tbh do not seem to have half the issues you seem to have (listed).

I am pretty sure when you open drivers door it unlocks the cable, it will re lock if left to long to remove.
Phones connects every time on BT. although I find it amusing when using the radio and use voice to connect to BT media, and it says "BT media is not available" and then 10 secs later plays from BT media.
I find by the time I have turned ignition, select drive, changed mode, put on seat belt Sensus System is up and running, really not that long.
I certainly would not want it to fire up every time I walked past the car with the key in my pocket.

The T8's are quite unique in many ways and at first you find some things a chore, after a while they become 2nd nature.

Sat Nav has been updated quite often certainly of late, and I think some people have commented on improved speech.

Ignition well you know it is off, and on, dials etc. and when you open the door again you get to know what is off and on, it is just a learning process, I must admit the more confusing side of it is when you just want to sit in the car with out the engine running and listen to music, run ac, etc.

They are updating, and improving Software all the time, and it will not be too long before updates can be done via Wi Fi at home.

Give it time, nothing is perfect what ever car you have these days, and technology certainly makes it trying sometimes as it varies so much from car to car.[/QUOTE

There is a new voice software , out about 3 weeks ago .

I appreciate the OP's frustration.

The car has been on public sale for 3 years and that basic and simple problems still exist is quite poor - and I don't mean improvements or enhancements.
Many other technical marvels such as mobile phones or computers are usually debugged before public release, have highlighted problems swiftly corrected, and in most cases completely replaced by a new phone or program after 2 years.

Also bear in mind those products don't cost their disappointed customers over £50k each.