Volvo On Call 2013: the revived app allowing drivers to lock their car from anywhere

Ref:A00061

Published: 26 February 2013

ONCE the subject of much hype in fantasy films, Volvo has this year enhanced its highly praised three-year-old mobile app, Volvo On Call, in what could make more drivers feel at ease when parking their car in an unknown area.

It allows enthusiastic users to see a wide variety of information about their car via a smartphone - Android, Windows or iPhone compatible. In excess of 52,000 drivers are currently actively using it, with seven per cent (3,640) of those in the UK.

Volvo Plug in Hybrid

The Volvo V60 Plug-in Hybrid will benefit from exclusive features from the app, including charge reminders - useful the night before commuting to work.
Features include checking whether the car is secure - if not, drivers can lock the doors remotely, whether they are in a pub, brushing their teeth, jogging or doing their make-up indoors.

They can also locate the car on a map, currently the most used feature, and particularly useful if drivers have parked in an unfamiliar city Volvo says.

The app also allows drivers to see their fuel level, average mpg, mileage and trip meter data, plus basic maintenance details such as bulb faults, and brake fluid, oil and coolant levels.

New features include:

1. Enhanced driving journal. Detailed data of each trip during the last 40 days can be downloaded and stored. There is also a possibility to extract the data as an Excel file. Now allows you to see the route the car took on a map (incl. Google Street View) and gives speed/fuel consumption/battery consumption at specific time intervals.

Volvo Plug in Hybrid

2. Send destination to the car. Using the map function within the app, select a location (within 31 miles) and send the destination to the car. This will then show-up in the car's RTI system.

3. Outside temperature. Shows the temperature using web-based weather information at the parked location of the car.

4. Honk and Flash. Allows the user to activate the horn or flash the lights independently to allow easy location of the car in busy areas - also very good for playing pranks on friends or strangers who walk near your car.

5. Car in motion. Shows if the car is in use.

While it will work with all Volvo models, it will work in harmony with exclusive features for on the Volvo V60 Hybrid, the world's first plug-in diesel hybrid to be launched later this year.

New functions specific to V60 D6 AWD Plug-in Diesel Hybrid:

1. Passenger compartment preconditioning. Allows the owner to set the timer or remotely start the heating/cooling of the passenger compartment prior to the driver's journey.

2. Hybrid battery check. Shows the current state of charge of the battery.

3. Charge reminder. An alarm can be set to remind the driver to plug the vehicle in to charge.

4. Charge interruption warning. Shows if the power supply to charge the vehicle has been interrupted.

Having won the coveted Thatcham International Vehicle Security Award for the last two years, drivers have warmed quickly to the app, with rival manufacturers struggling to replicate its features.