Volvo recalls all of its 72K EX30 cars due to software bug that obscures speedometer
- Reference: 1718041512
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2024/06/10/volvo_recalls_all_of_its/
- Source link:
In a statement released today, the Sweden-based car manufacturer says EX30 vehicles can accidentally throw up a "test screen" on the center monitor, obscuring the normal driving statistics shown there including the speedometer and infotainment features. The exact cause of the bug has yet to be disclosed.
The issue first emerged last month when Volvo announced a recall for 1,255 specifically in Australia.
[1]
"Due to a software error, the infotainment unit screen may enter a test mode during startup of the vehicle. This may prevent key information such as the vehicle's speed from being displayed," the Australian recall [2]says . "Failure to display key information may potentially increase the risk of injury or death to vehicle occupants and other road users."
[3]
[4]
What makes the bug especially problematic is that, unlike almost every other car, all of Volvo's car statistics and info like speed are located on the central screen and nowhere else. When that test screen error occurs, drivers are left in the dark about exactly how fast they're going, and that could lead to driving that's too reckless or too cautious, neither of which are great.
Thankfully for EX30 owners, they won't need to take their cars into the shop or to dealers in order to get the error patched. An update, termed version 1.3.1, is now available over the air so that any user can download and install it.
[5]
This isn't the first time Volvo has run into software issues with its newer cars. The higher-end EX90 actually got delayed by half a year purely to focus on software development, according to Volvo's public declarations. The stakes are high when it comes to software and potential issues, especially when important components of a vehicle rely directly on software to work properly.
[6]Oh, no: The electric cars at CES are getting all emotional
[7]Hailo's latest AI chip shows up integrated NPUs and sips power like fine wine
[8]Elon Musk says he doesn’t want 100% tariff on China-made electric vehicles
[9]Research finds electric cars are silent but violent for pedestrians
It's not even an issue that uniquely plagues Volvo, as the whole car industry is introducing more cutting-edge software features and moving existing functions to the car's central computer.
That's especially true when it comes to self-driving, which has to run on a computer no matter what. In one instance, [10]Cruise had to update its robo taxis so they could recognize when they've hit a person who is already down low or on the ground. That update was a direct response to an incident where a Cruise robo-taxi drove over a pedestrian who was already on the road after having been hit by a different vehicle, instead of just stopping after the collision happened. ®
Get our [11]Tech Resources
[1] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Zmd3gjbXGr3de7rHvMHZBQAAARA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[2] https://www.vehiclerecalls.gov.au/recalls/rec-005968
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Zmd3gjbXGr3de7rHvMHZBQAAARA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Zmd3gjbXGr3de7rHvMHZBQAAARA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Zmd3gjbXGr3de7rHvMHZBQAAARA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2023/01/06/ces_ev_concept_cars/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2024/04/10/hailo_10h_ai_chip/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2024/05/24/elon_musk_china_tariffs/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2024/05/22/electric_car_pedestrian_risk/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2023/11/08/cruise_selfdriving_software_update/
[11] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: I am SO happy to have a classical speedometer
It’s a long-standing Volvo tradition to have random sh1t obscuring the screen.
My XC70 is obsessed with telling me which seatbelts have been used, or when it’s connected via Bluetooth to my phone - even if I’m reversing at the time. Yes, thanks Volvo, being told that you have connected, just like the 500+ times before, to my phone, is WAY more important than me being able to see my back-up camera…
Re: I am SO happy to have a classical speedometer
My car (2021 Audi A5) has a digital dashboard, but it is well defined what part of it contains info related to the entertainment system. There are a few layouts you can choose from, the one I use has a tach and selected gear on the left (along with gas gauge) and speedometer on the right. In the middle it show info related to the entertainment system like radio station, or what is streaming on your phone, plus a few icons above like whether your phone is paired. It is not touch sensitive.
Are there really cars that have the main dashboard display touch sensitive? I'd have to lean forward quite a bit to touch that, and the steering wheel is in the way. Seems like giving people any reason to touch that would be a huge safety issue!
Idiocy
Any car with a combined instrument and entertainment display - idiocy.
Any car with a touch screen intended to be used whilst driving - idiocy of the highest order.
is now available over the air
Oh my god...
Who.........
......ever thought it was a good idea to put the critical cluster display on a fuck'n entertainment display in the middle of the dash should be kicked to death. And then to screw up the code that operates said display is to think going forward into the ditch is fun!
Kick'em twice while there down now!
Re: Who.........
Ever since Tesla got away with selling a bug-ridden iPad-on-wheels and everyone copied it because it reduces the cost of having a dedicated instrument cluster in front of the steering wheel
Same reason all phones now look like iphones with no physical keypad or accessible battery / SIM let alone headphone jack or microSD slot
...may enter a test mode during startup of the vehicle.
Shouldn't the speed of the vehicle at this point be zero?
Or are they anticipating having to perform a cold reset in the fast lane of the M1?
(Yeah, I agree it shouldn't happen at all).
Could be worse
I'm not a fan of digital primary instruments but props to Volvo for actually reporting the issue and recalling the vehicles, some other manufacturers whomst will not be named are not quite so responsible
Re: Could be worse
No.
All car manufacturers would be forced to issue a safety recall if, through their hapless coding ability, their cars were no longer capable of displaying the current speed.
Props totally undeserved in this particular case.
Re: Could be worse
> Props totally undeserved in this particular case.
But they did their job! Barely! Months after it was overdue!
Re: Could be worse
Wife drives a Suzuki SUV, built in Japan, with Japanese parts and Japanese language display on the dash.
When it pops up a message we have no way to understand what it is saying. The idiot-lights are mostly understandable but occasionally I have to google them to get some clue.
I've been unable to get a translation app to work on the language displayed on the dash or find a manual that includes enough instructions to switch the display from Japanese to English. Or explain what the idiot-lights mean.
(I did find an English-language manual for a European-market equivalent car but of course some manual pages differ from what's actually on our car.)
(And no, we didn't have much choice in car to buy, living on a remote island. It's what it is.)
Who wrote the software?
[1]HaleyTek is a joint venture between Volvo Cars and ECARX
[2]ECARX and smart Form Joint Venture to Drive Development of Intelligent Automotive Products
[1] https://www.haleytek.com/our-product
[2] https://ir.ecarxgroup.com/news-releases/news-release-details/ecarx-and-smart-form-joint-venture-drive-development-intelligent
Judge: do you know how fast you were going before you drunkenly lost control, mowed down that sweet old lady, then crashed into the nuclear plan and caused a core meltdown that has left the city uninhabitable for 1,000 years?
Driver: No your honor, my dashboard read “test screen”.
Judge: Well, in that case I’m going to let you off with a warning.
I am SO happy to have a classical speedometer
Mitsubishi Spare Star 2018 model (called Mirage in US for why ???? does anyone know why ????). Classical analogue speedometer + RPM. AC with actual dials, you can use them blindly since they don't change function depending on "context". And you can touch them without accidentally activate something you did not want to activate. Reliable A to B car, not a single glitch yet. Of course there is software in that vehicle too, but not dialed up to eleven just 'cause marketing propaganda department says so.
An entertainment system blocking a speedometer with a useless message - insanity!