Volvo app takes the hassle out of getting fuel

Imagine needing fuel but instead of having to waste time finding a petrol station, filling up and telling the cashier you don’t want two Cherry Ripes for the price of one, you can have someone else do it for you.

Volvo is trialling such a service in San Francisco which also includes car washing, servicing and even moving your car to another location for you – which could be handy if you did the right thing and left your car at the pub the night before.

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The concierge system is part of the Volvo On-Call mobile app offered to owners of the new Volvo XC90 SUV and Volvo S90 luxury sedan to make their lives even easier.

And though it may seem like the height of laziness, the Swedish automaker reckons there’s demand for such services. Based on research that showed more than 70 percent of customers want fuelling services at their fingertips, Volvo also found 56 percent also wanted their car picked up for routine maintenance while 49 percent would like to be able to have their car moved to another location when desired.

The Volvo owners participating in the pilot can use the app to identify concierge services available in the immediate vicinity and order them via their smartphone.

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The app can even communicate with the car and contact the drivers to remind them they need fuel or car servicing and ask if they want someone else to do it for them.

Once booked, the mobile concierge can access the car using a one-time-use digital key sent from the app, which is location and time-specific. When services are complete, the car is locked and the digital key expires.

The car can also be returned to where the customer left it or delivered to a completely new location at the customer’s request.

Volvo handles all the billing and payments to vendors, but hasn’t said how much it will charge on top.

WhichCar has approached Volvo Australia to see if there’s any chance of the concierge service coming here.