Volvo will use Epic’s Unreal Engine to create ‘photorealistic’ graphics in its electric cars

The Unreal Engine will be used by Volvo. The Swedish automaker said it will partner with the creator of the video game to bring realistic visualization to its next generation of electric vehicles.

The human-machine interface is a way to describe the way car owners interact with their vehicle's software. Volvo says that Epic will help build a platform on which the automaker's engineers can design software that will improve the HMI while also maintaining levels of safety that Volvo has staked much of its reputation on.

The head of user experience said that the technology gives them the ability to create responsive, really high quality visuals that we can play with and layer in information.

Image: Volvo

Safety will be a core aspect of the partnership. The company built its reputation on safety and quirky designs over the years, and today's announcement is meant to highlight that. Volvo wants to use the Unreal Engine to render what the vehicle's external sensors, like camera, radar, and soon lidar, are seeing outside the car to drivers without being overwhelming.

The presentation of navigation and battery life, as well as light, color, and motion graphics, will be improved thanks to the collaboration with the company.

The Unreal Engine is the primary tool for the creation of realistic 3D graphics. Since then, it has been used in a variety of genres of games, most notably in the film and television industry.

The auto industry is an attractive target for the game because cars are easier to render than humans. The proliferation of racing games speaks to that. The company said it would be working with the company to provide software for the Hummer EV pickup truck.

Image: Volvo

The automotive industry has become more of a focus for the company. The logic is simple: modern cars are primarily designed using software and carry scores of onboard computers that rely on touchscreens and digital interface to power in-vehicle entertainment centers. Unreal Engine is a great platform for building software, so why not put it in cars?

It became very attractive with the new hardware coming into cars, to think of the car as an additional platform that we should recognize.

Volvo and Unreal Engine wouldn't say which vehicles will be the first to feature software provided by the Unreal Engine or what sort of timeline customers should expect to see these features rolled out to the wider Volvo fleet.

Volvo plans to sell 600,000 electric vehicles by the middle of the decade and will build a battery manufacturing facility in Europe by the end of the decade. A new generation of batteries with higher energy density is being worked on by the company and its partner Northvolt. The new batteries will allow for a longer driving range between charges, as well as faster charging times.

Volvo is bringing software development in-house to help speed up the deployment of new updates to the company's fleet or correct bugs in the system. The new operating system will power the company's next generation of electric vehicles.

Image: Volvo

All of the underlying systems that operate within the vehicle, including QNX, Linux, and AUTOSAR, will work with the new OS. The company said its new architecture will feature a core computer with two systems-on-a-chip. One will focus on core driving functions and the other on semi-autonomous features and more advanced functions. Volvo hopes to combine the two computers into a single system for more efficient processing.

Volvo wants help in modernizing its next- generation vehicles, while also acknowledging that feature bloat is a real problem. Brand-new 3D animations will be included. Anything that distracts the driver will not be part of the package.

It is important for us to introduce it at the right time.