Volvo Cars has announced a partnership with Google to develop the next generation of its in-car infotainment and connectivity solution based on Android.

It will launch on new Volvo models within two years.

“We are making an important strategic step with the Google partnership.

“Google’s platform and services will enhance the user experience by enabling more personalisation possibilities, while Android will offer increased flexibility from a development perspective,” said Henrik Green, senior vice president research and development at Volvo Car Group.

“With the advent of Android, we will embrace a rich ecosystem while keeping our iconic Volvo user interface. We will offer hundreds of popular apps and the best-integrated experience in this broad, connected environment,”

The catalogue of popular Android apps – developed by Google, Volvo or third-party app developers – will offer connected and predictive services in and around the car.

Patrick Brady, vice president of android engineering at Google, said: “This partnership gives us the opportunity to deliver a more seamless experience to Volvo drivers through a full-featured infotainment platform and rich ecosystem of Android applications and Google services.”

Volvo is also collaborating with Google on another initiative to update recent Volvo models by adding Google Local Search, a location-based service. This will be released through an update to customers with Sensus Navigation.

Further details of the partnership and Android OS will be announced at Google’s annual tech show tomorrow.