In February 2024, Apple pulled the plug. No iCar, no Project Titan. But Matthias Schmidt of Schmidt Automotive Research has made a surprising observation in his latest analysis. For him, Volvo’s EX60 fills exactly the gap left by Apple.
Schmidt argues that Volvo’s EX60 possesses exactly the DNA one would have expected from Apple. The design is minimalist, functional and coolly Nordic. But much more important is what’s inside. Volvo isn’t just following a trend here; it’s consistently building the Volvo EX60 as a “software-defined vehicle”. The electric car constantly collects data. Not for its own sake, but to learn.
Like a smartphone operating system that matures over years, Volvo’s EX60 is designed to improve while it sits in the customer’s garage. Schmidt highlights the Volvo EX60’s safety systems in particular, which draw information from real-world driving situations and crash scenarios. The algorithms become smarter, and updates are delivered in real time. This combination of hardware safety and adaptive software was actually the core promise that observers had hoped for from the Apple Car.
Technically, this is made possible by the new SPA3 platform, which, combined with the “Superset” tech stack, allows for “progressive performance enhancement” over time. In other words, Volvo no longer has to statically define all functions at market launch; performance is gradually increased and new features introduced only when real-world data demonstrates that the customer will not experience any disadvantages or security risks. This approach of fully exploiting hardware potential only through maturing software has been Apple’s trademark for many years.
Schmidt’s becomes almost nostalgic in his analysis. He recalls that while Steve Jobs was often seen later in his famous silver Mercedes SL without license plates, the young Apple founder can be seen driving a Volvo station wagon in the 2013 film “Jobs”. “If he were still alive,” Schmidt writes, “one could easily imagine him sitting behind the wheel of an EX60 today”. For the expert, this is a clear sign that the Volvo brand is not only alive, it is technologically advanced and is now taking on the role that was originally intended for Apple.
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