Electric Volvo ES90 Flagship Sedan Will Have Huge Processing Power To Keep You Safe

Though it has backed off from its goal of only offering electric cars by the end of the decade, extending the lifespans of some of its hybrid models like the XC90, Volvo is still preparing to launch a slew of new fully electric models over the next couple years, and coming next month will be the ES90. Sedans aren't dead yet, at least not higher-end ones, as the ES90 will be an electric replacement for the current S90. Volvo is keeping the ES90's design close to its chest for now, releasing just a few teasers that mainly show off its greenhouse, but the company is divulging a ton of details on the ES90's tech hardware.

In profile the ES90 looks pretty similar to the current S90, but with what looks like flusher glass and an even longer wheelbase. A crisp character line runs from nose to tail, and the rear end seems to nicely wrap around at the corners. In the top-down image, we can see that the ES90 will have additional upright lamps that run alongside the rear window, like on the EX90, along with the main taillights that will feature in the more traditional location at the tailgate. It also looks like the ES90 might be a liftback instead of a sedan with a normal trunk, which would be awesome.

Volvo says the ES90 will be the most powerful car it has ever produced — in terms of core computing capacity, that is. It features an updated version of Volvo's Superset tech stack that debuted with the EX90, which is one set of hardware and software systems that will be used on all of the brand's future EVs. This setup lets Volvo make improvements more frequently and more efficiently across all models, in aspects from driving range and performance to connectivity and infotainment features.

The ES90 will have a dual Nvidia Drive AGX Orin primary core computer, versus the EX90 that has one AGX Orin and one AGX Xavier. I'm an art school dropout, so I'll just let Volvo tell you what that all means:

DRIVE AGX Orin is NVIDIA's core computer for intelligent cars that orchestrates various essential systems and processes inside the car at ultra-fast speeds. With a high level of computational power – around 508 trillion operations per second (also known as TOPS) – it manages functionalities such as AI-based, state-of-the-art active safety features, car sensors and efficient battery management.
The NVIDIA DRIVE AGX Orin-powered primary core computer provides an eightfold improvement in AI compute performance compared with DRIVE AGX Xavier, enabling us to gradually increase the size of our deep learning model and neural network from 40 million to 200 million parameters. This will happen over time as we collect more data and continue to develop the model, with the overall goal of improving customer experience and – most importantly – safety levels.

Being a Volvo, a lot of that computing power will be put to use in the ES90's safety systems. In terms of hardware, the ES90 will have one lidar at the front of the roof, five radars, eight cameras, and twelve ultrasonic sensors (four fewer ultrasonic sensors than the EX90). Volvo calls that setup its Safe Space Technology — that's some woke nonsense if I've ever heard it — and says its goal is to make all of your journeys safer and more enjoyable by detecting obstacles even in darkness or inclement weather and engaging proactive safety systems. When I drove the EX90 back in September, Volvo still had a bunch of kinks to work out with its various safety and infotainment systems, with not all of the functionality turned on yet. Hopefully the ES90 will come to market with all of those problems smoothed out.

Despite all of this tech, Volvo says it doesn't want it to be overwhelming. The company says "we have designed cars that place people first for nearly 100 years. We always use technology with purpose, equipping our cars with the right amount of tech to ensure a comfortable and safe ride. As such, the ES90 is designed to provide you with the mental peace and balance we all need in our hectic lives." Sounds great to me.

The ES90 will make its full debut on March 5. Like the outgoing S90, it will likely be made in China, and it'll ride on the same SPA2 platform as the EX90. Following the ES90's debut will be a mid-size ES60 sedan and EX60 crossover, to replace the gas-powered S60 and XC60.