Polestar 3 enhanced with new features and complimentary hardware upgrade | Automotive World

Latest over-the-air (OTA) update adds extra features and software stability and for selected devices, digital key capability to Polestar 3

www.automotiveworld.com

For model year 2026 the Polestar 3 will be delivered with an upgrade from its current -generation NVIDIA DRIVE AGX Xavier processor to a new, more powerful, NVIDIA DRIVE AGX Orin processor.

Crucially, this hardware update, which will bring with it even greater computing power, will also be offered to all existing Polestar 3 customers as a complimentary upgrade, staying true to the Swedish brand’s promise to continue to add value and deliver the very best user experience to its customers.

Michael Lohscheller, Polestar CEO, continues, “Polestar 3, the first software-defined vehicle from Europe, gets even more brain power. The ability to upgrade the hardware of our cars when new technologies become available is the perfect demonstration of our commitment to deliver the very best ownership experience to our customers. With the Orin processor upgrade, the already outstanding Polestar 3 gets even better.”

This complimentary hardware change will be performed at a Polestar authorised service point, and customers will be contacted when the NVIDIA DRIVE AGX Orin processor is available to be fitted.

 

Thats the right decision.

 

Fantastic news thanks for sharing!

 

Polestar 3 enhanced with new features and complimentary hardware upgrade - Polestar Global Media Newsroom

"For model year 2026 the Polestar 3 will be delivered with an upgrade from its current -generation NVIDIA DRIVE AGX Xavier processor to a new, more powerful, NVIDIA DRIVE AGX Orin processor.

Crucially, this hardware update, which will bring with it even greater computing power, will also be offered to all existing Polestar 3 customers as a complimentary upgrade, staying true to the Swedish brand’s promise to continue to add value and deliver the very best user experience to its customers.

Michael Lohscheller, Polestar CEO, continues, "Polestar 3, the first software-defined vehicle from Europe, gets even more brain power. The ability to upgrade the hardware of our cars when new technologies become available is the perfect demonstration of our commitment to deliver the very best ownership experience to our customers. With the Orin processor upgrade, the already outstanding Polestar 3 gets even better.”

This complimentary hardware change will be performed at a Polestar authorised service point, and customers will be contacted when the NVIDIA DRIVE AGX Orin processor is available to be fitted."

 

Being a press release makes it even more likely to actually happen.

I wonder what "hidden" reason there is for doing the replacement for free on existing users, my guess is that they realise that supporting both architectures over time is going to cost more than the cost of replacing it for existing users.

 

Probably the myriad issues that seem to be related to slow wake from deep hibernation.

 

Our NIO ET7, which had a LiDAR, had 4x Orin chips for all the self driving needs, which was way too much computing power for present capabilities. They eventually started to offload UI stuff into one of the Orin chips.

I assume this 1x Orin chip upgrade is being released at same time as the Polestar 3 LiDAR, so it can have the processing capabilities to fuse all the incoming data from ultrasonics, radar, camera and LiDAR.

 

That is a big step in the right direction and a great commitment. For perspective: the AMD units supplied with the latest Tesla performs at 10 TOPS (10 trillion operations per second). If you’ve ever experienced what Tesla is able to squeeze out of that system, it is pretty impressive. Their UI/UX and FSD systems still have their quirks but it is very mature and only getting better. The current P3s have NVIDIA Xavier has legacy architecture that, nonetheless is capable of 30 TOPS. The NVIDIA Orin processors are using Ampere architecture which is also legacy kit, but it is capable of 254 TOPS. Sounds great right? But not quite. Tesla has two brains; the AMD system is dedicated to infotainment and user facing systems. And they also have in-house built hardware to handle the critical drive and AI systems of the car, which they call HWx (x being the generation). Currently Tesla is transitioning from HW3 to HW4 for its cars. HW3 is rated at 36 TOPS and HW4 is estimated at 50 TOPs. But that is dedicated to just its drive systems, whereas Polestar relies on the single NVIDIA system to handle all. It technically should be more than capable (254 TOPs vs 60 TOPS). Versus what it is currently at 30 TOPS handling everything compared to Tesla at 10+36 TOPs split architecture, so it can dedicate its resources accordingly. So it will still be dependent on their software development and optimization. Let’s hope they dedicate the resources there…

 

It is not true that everything runs on the Nvidia platform, the infotainment is run on a Snapdragon Cockpit Platform from Qualcomm.

 

So then we can expect to have continued bugs and inconsistencies in the car until they get to this upgrade? That's how I read it. If the HW was not needed for the car to work without issue, they would not spend the money to upgrade current cars.

Good news though, just hope this is not a 9 month + wait for current owners.

 

So then we can expect to have continued bugs and inconsistencies in the car until they get to this upgrade? That's how I read it. If the HW was not needed for the car to work without issue, they would not spend the money to upgrade current cars.

Good news though, just hope this is not a 9 month + wait for current owners.

Well, assuming things run as they usually do, then the MY26 car production will start in May. I wouldn't necessarily expect them to roll out the retrofits until sometime in Q4.

But...the one unknown in this is just how eager they (Volvo/Polestar) are to put the negative owner feedback and press they've been getting, which will only continue to grow and spread until the 2026 cars are out there. I'd like to think they're sufficiently motivated to get the retrofits done even before the MY26 cars reach dealers, but who knows.

 

EX90 and P3 have a separate processor for Lidar. It's located in the depression in the back below cargo platform in EX90 and will the same for P3.

 

Yep, that's correct, but unrelated to this.

 

I have to wonder if this is part of the "hardware" fix they have been talking about to fix the vampire drain.

 

It's exactly tied to that. The vampire drain exists because the current hardware cannot be completely shutdown and then boot up in a reasonable amount of time for daily use. So it's essentially being left on in a standby mode for 72 hours at a time.

 

I'm glad to see Polestar taking care of the early adopters. This is how you build brand loyalty, and don't mess over the customers who supported you.

 

Wish they’d make an infotainment upgrade available on the P2, even if it was extra cost!

 

Sincerely! Seems there are a number of new features being rolled out but only for MY23+ P2s. Given the ongoing lags etc my launch edition car has I’d 100% consider an infotainment upgrade if it was offered for some amount of money.

re the P3/EX90, I hope this hardware swap truly fixes the pending issues so we can jump back in Q4 ‘26 when our Kia lease ends.

 

This is what has been said since the start. It is almost only because of the performance problems with the current one being slow to boot, but most development I heard has targeted this hardware since some time and not both platforms. Since it would take unnecessary amount of resources to work on and support something that is not there in a year anyway or something like that is the idea.
So expect a much improved experience together with the new hardware. Todays hardware will get minimal updates though because of this.
This hardware also aligns with future SPA3 and makes it easy for Volvo to get new updates/features from SPA3 cars also to this, at least that is what they bragged about a lot the last weeks.

 

If it means the software will get more frequent updates and the a complete set of features like a more reliable unlocking experience or Homelink and side mirrors that fold when you lock the car and tilt when you go into reverse, then I am all for it and they can brag all they want.

The P3 has a lot of potential but it's being held back by the ownership experience of bugs.

[Edit] Fixed an error.

 

After the latest update, I’m 95% happy with my 3. The things that will complete the car are:

1. Homelink, hopefully geofenced to automatically open my garage when I get close enough. If they can do this with the new charging parameters on the updated app, I don’t see why it can’t be implemented. Plus, I can get rid of my rattly garage remote.

2. Easy ingress/egress, that is the seats and steering wheel retract when put into park and auto adjust to your specific settings after you get in. I’ve had this on prior cars and it just makes the whole experience feel more luxurious.

3. Mirrors fold in when parked. A minor but important feature to mitigate damage.

Obviously, I won’t mind if they want to upgrade the hardware.

 

An upgraded SoC would be welcome, but let's hope that doesn't pull the rug out from under the positive developments from OTA updates. The code was written for old hardware and part of software optimization is working around hardware limitations. Unless they re-write those, the performance of those systems may remain the same or not work at all. obviously they are working on these things. And debugging is a thankless onerous task. But, as we have witnessesed, the order in which things should happen don't always align with reality. e.g. OBC replacements before software updates that prevent OBCs from failing.

 

In reading the official Polestar discussion groups you are exactly right. Nice that we are getting a free upgrade to a faster chip, but it is to fix the 2% daily drain.

 

Polestar 3 enhanced with new features and complimentary hardware upgrade

Polestar is continuing with its commitment to comprehensively update the Polestar 3 throughout its lifecycle. Since delivering the first customer Polestar 3 in June 2024, the Swedish brand has implemented nine software updates to its flagship SUV, while across its three-car range it has...

media.polestar.com

Here's the press release.

 

Hoping this allows them to offer dashcam like the Polestar 4.

 

If anyone is interested - here's an AI generated summarised comparison of the Xavier vs Orin:



### NVIDIA Drive AGX Xavier

• GPU: 512-core Volta GPU with Tensor Cores
• CPU: 8-core ARM v8.2 64-bit CPU
• Memory: 32 GB LPDDR4x
• Storage: 32 GB eMMC
• AI Performance: 30 TOPS (Tera Operations Per Second)
• Video Encode: 1x 4K60 (H.265), 3x 4K30 (H.265), 6x 1080p60 (H.265)
• Video Decode: 1x 4K60 (H.265), 2x 4K30 (H.265), 5x 1080p60 (H.265)
• Camera: 12 lanes (3x4 or 4x2) MIPI CSI-2 D-PHY 1.1 lanes (18 Gbps)

### NVIDIA Drive AGX Orin

• GPU: 2048-core Ampere GPU with Tensor Cores
• CPU: 12-core ARM Cortex-A78AE v8.2 64-bit CPU
• Memory: 64 GB LPDDR5
• Storage: 64 GB eMMC
• AI Performance: 275 TOPS (Tera Operations Per Second)
• Video Encode: 1x 8K30 (H.265), 3x 4K60 (H.265), 7x 4K30 (H.265), 11x 1080p60 (H.265)
• Video Decode: 2x 8K30 (H.265), 6x 4K60 (H.265), 12x 4K30 (H.265), 26x 1080p60 (H.265)
• Camera: 8 lanes MIPI CSI-2 D-PHY 2.1 (up to 20Gbps)

In summary, the NVIDIA Drive AGX Orin offers significantly higher AI performance, more powerful GPU and CPU, and better memory and storage capabilities compared to the NVIDIA Drive AGX Xavier.

 

The car already has an Orion cpu. One Orin and one Xavier to be changed to double Orins.
The Xavier simply did not cut it in the automotive world. The suits at Volvo only saw a chip with on paper 20x compute power vs existing cars. The problem with nVidia was, and to a certain extent still is, they are not good at the specific requirements in automotive. It is a small part of their business. If you go for Mobileye, for example, they do know, it is most of their business.
The double Orin will be good though and Volvo has learnt a lot. Costly learning though, this have taken many years from their development. Next year we will probably have what they originally planned for 2022. They should have gone for something in the meantime before this big jump to nVidia.

 

Xavier came out in 2017, Orin was announced in 2019. The successor to Orin, Thor, which is 8 times faster, is already in production as of 2024. Zeekr and BYD are already using Thor in production cars.

 

yeah Thor uses blackwell architecture. So the absolute newest chips that Nvidia has. I am not sure how long Chinese car manufacturers will have access to these chips, frankly. The US has banned the export of Blackwell-powered GPUs to China citing numerous reasons. Whether you agree with it or not, the fact that Chinese manufacturers are still able to purchase blackwell SoCS such as Thor sounds like a loophole that they may eventually shut down.

either way, the move of Polestar may sound like it was designed to leapfrog over its main competitors. If anything, it was merely a move to gain parity. As they likely won't be designing their own hardware like Tesla, they are just shopping around for SoCs like most other brands; and the next best thing after Xavier is Orin. Thor is overkill for the P3 for its targeted markets and current legislative landscapes. i.e. I don't think its ready to support anything beyond limited lvl 3 autonomous driving - at least for the next couple of model years. it would be silly to include that hardware and not be able to utilize its potential. Maybe they put it in once LIDAR is fully cooked in model year 2027 or 2028. but again that would really require amenable legislation to that level of autonomous driving that Thor was designed for. At this point, these are all just aspirational. They can't even get the seat positions saved on the correct user profiles... I sure as heck am not ready for them to take the wheel!

 

Did anybody already hear about when Polestar is planning to perform this upgrade?

 

Well, the strange things are all these sophisticated ICE cars that manages to keep alive all the same access and communiction systems on a puny 12V battery that keeps maybe 1kWh. For a month easily.
My sister has a 2012 Volvo V70 diesel. Keyless entry and start, app to monitor the car, lock the car, starte heater etc. 13 years and still on the original 80A 12V battery.

What else do a sleeping EV actually do that requires so much energy? Probably nothing, but when you have this 100kWh behemoth battery to drain from when needed its easy to get wasteful and sloppy.

Easiest solution to this problem: Add a simple step to the WLTP and EPA range certification procedure: Hand the keys to the test personell, they charge it to 100%, then puts the car into a faraday cage for a week, then run the actual tests. That would get proper energy management up from the bottom of priorities when you rush to launch a car.

 

Well, the strange things are all these sophisticated ICE cars that manages to keep alive all the same access and communiction systems on a puny 12V battery that keeps maybe 1kWh. For a month easily.
My sister has a 2012 Volvo V70 diesel. Keyless entry and start, app to monitor the car, lock the car, starte heater etc. 13 years and still on the original 80A 12V battery.

What else do a sleeping EV actually do that requires so much energy? Probably nothing, but when you have this 100kWh behemoth battery to drain from when needed its easy to get wasteful and sloppy.

Easiest solution to this problem: Add a simple step to the WLTP and EPA range certification procedure: Hand the keys to the test personell, they charge it to 100%, then puts the car into a faraday cage for a week, then run the actual tests. That would get proper energy management up from the bottom of priorities when you rush to launch a car.

Unfortunately 'all these sophisticated ICE cars' also often have battery drain issues; my 2020 911 for example went through 4 batteries within a couple of years and more than once left me stranded. It was flat bedded twice to the dealer and even qualified for a lemon law by back (I am in California). And my experience is not isolated, others have had similar and in fact Porsche will reject a warranty claim on batteries unless the car is driven more than 6,000 miles (10,000 kms) per year or is left hooked up to a maintainer.

 

ICE cars tend to have more smaller ECUs, whereas EVs have fewer much bigger compute units. With the ICE architecture, you can power most of them down and leave a small one sleeping to wait for a wakeup signal (like a door unlock), which then wakes everything else up. That's harder with the EV architecture, as the auto OEMs are learning.

 

What? Why would you assume that ICE cars have smaller ECUs? Have you actually inspected the electronics in a modern car European car or seen the wiring there? These cars are much more sophisticated or technically advanced with regards to sensing and control than an EV. And then you have the PHEVs that have all the parts of an ICE, all the parts of an EV and addition they have systems integrating ICE and EV systems.

If one thing, EVs are so much simpler that knuckleheads like Henrik Fisker is able to get at car homologated and sold in a few thousand units.

The ability to have very high complexity compute while still being able to do a proper shutdown while having keyless and app support is a solved problem. It is just that in the EV space there are so much more new stuff to most automakers they do not prioritize it.

 

This sort of thing makes me wonder if the upgrade is in jeopardy of being even further delayed.

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/09/15/china-nvidia-violated-anti-monopoly-law-will-continue-investigation.html

 

Indeed, I would have assumed we would have already received some info on this at least or a data range....

 

The page on the EX90 side was updated today, though I'm not sure what was added or changed.

Upgrading your EX90 with a new core computer | Marketing and campaigns | Volvo Support EN-CA

If you have an EX90 of model year 2025, your vehicle will be eligible for a complimentary upgrade to its core computer. This is a hardware and software upgrade that will give your vehicle improved performance and computing power.

www.volvocars.com