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Volvo Will Use Epic Games' Unreal Engine for Next-Gen Graphics

Volvo Concept Car running Unreal Engine on the infotainment display
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Volvo Concept Car running Unreal Engine on the infotainment display

The Concept Recharge's displays could give us a pretty good idea of what to expect from this collaboration.

Volvo

What's happening

Volvo and Epic Games are teaming up to bring Unreal Engine-powered graphics to next-gen electric Volvos.

Why it matters

The graphic power of Unreal Engine should give Volvo's future displays vastly improved capabilities.

Epic Games' Unreal Engine is a computer graphics game engine capable of an impressive amount of realism, one which has underpinned a number of popular video games through its many iterations over the years. But video games are just one place where something this powerful can be put to good use.

Volvo this week announced that it has partnered with Epic Games to bring some major visual upgrades to the next generation of Volvo's telematics. The automaker becomes the first European OEM to team up with Epic for this purpose, bringing some impressive improvements to the system's graphics, from rendering to 3D animation.

In addition to relying on Unreal Engine to craft some slick graphics, Volvo will also boost the underlying bits of its infotainment with the third generation of Qualcomm's Snapdragon Cockpit platform, providing some major processing power to keep everything running smoothly. According to Volvo's press release, this upgrade will double overall speeds and improve graphics generation and processing by a factor of 10.

If you're wondering when you'll be able to enjoy the end product, the answer is not too far over the horizon. We'll see the results of this collaboration on Volvo's upcoming all-electric flagship model, which the automaker will unveil to the public later this year. It's the first vehicle in Volvo's grand plan to go EV-only by 2030. Riding on the same SPA II platform as other upcoming models, expect the still-unnamed model to borrow a hefty bit of styling inspiration from the gorgeous Concept Recharge that debuted in mid-2021.

And before you ask, no, you probably won't be able to play Fortnite in the car. 

Volvo Concept Recharge has some big changes in store

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Andrew Krok Reviews Editor / Cars
Cars are Andrew's jam, as is strawberry. After spending years as a regular ol' car fanatic, he started working his way through the echelons of the automotive industry, starting out as social-media director of a small European-focused garage outside of Chicago. From there, he moved to the editorial side, penning several written features in Total 911 Magazine before becoming a full-time auto writer, first for a local Chicago outlet and then for CNET Cars.
Andrew Krok
Cars are Andrew's jam, as is strawberry. After spending years as a regular ol' car fanatic, he started working his way through the echelons of the automotive industry, starting out as social-media director of a small European-focused garage outside of Chicago. From there, he moved to the editorial side, penning several written features in Total 911 Magazine before becoming a full-time auto writer, first for a local Chicago outlet and then for CNET Cars.

Article updated on June 2, 2022 at 9:46 AM PDT

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Andrew Krok Reviews Editor / Cars
Cars are Andrew's jam, as is strawberry. After spending years as a regular ol' car fanatic, he started working his way through the echelons of the automotive industry, starting out as social-media director of a small European-focused garage outside of Chicago. From there, he moved to the editorial side, penning several written features in Total 911 Magazine before becoming a full-time auto writer, first for a local Chicago outlet and then for CNET Cars.
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