Cars can now gain new features long after you buy them In early March, thousands of Volvo owners got cars with artificial intelligence-powered digital assistants powered by Google Gemini, capable of holding casual conversations with their owners. What’s unique about that, you might ask? People buy new cars with advanced technology features all the time. Yes. But these people didn’t buy new cars. They simply woke up to find new features in cars they’d owned for years. Volvo pushed out a software update, free to most owners, that applied to cars bought as far back as 2020. Owners went to bed with a car without an AI assistant and woke up to one. It’s part of a growing trend in new cars, though Volvo’s action is the most impressive we’ve seen. Many of today’s new cars maintain internet connections and can download software updates on their own. That allows automakers to fix some problems remotely and, increasingly, allows them to add new features to cars already sold. The first wave of updates is mostly digital Volvo’s over-the-air software update went to cars from model year 2021 and newer equipped with the company’s Android-based infotainment system. Among other things, it added the Gemini AI assistant, made frequently used apps easier to find and gave drivers of plug-in hybrids — which can operate like electric vehicles or gas-powered cars depending on the trip — more flexibility in drive modes. Most of those features run through the central touchscreen, which hints to how these downloads usually work. They often center on high-tech features. Updates can be functional. Subaru recently added a new hands-free highway driving system to thousands of relatively new Outback models that have already been sold. It works at up to 85 mph on many highways, though owners must keep their