Volvo’s Integrated Co-Pilot digital experience wins Red Dot Design Award
Consistent navigation tools, visual structure, and interaction logic maintain commonality across heavy equipment
Volvo Construction Equipment has won a Red Dot Design Award: Brands & Communication Design for Integrated Volvo Co-Pilot, recognizing its innovative approach to creating a seamless digital experience across its machine portfolio.
Co-Pilot allows operators to seamlessly transition between machines throughout the day while using the same digital tools
The platform brings machine functions, communication, media, and productivity tools together in one intuitive operator environment. Built on a shared digital foundation, it delivers a familiar way of working across Volvo CE's machine range, while adapting to the specific demands of different machines, applications and operators. This helps operators move between machine types with greater ease and confidence.
Integrated Volvo Co-Pilot brings together machines, digital services, and productivity tools in a single operator experience. Machine functions, camera views, productivity tools, communication, and media are integrated in one ecosystem rather than spread across multiple screens, buttons, and add-on systems.
The machine and the services that support productivity are one connected solution, designed together from the outset. By bringing machine controls, communication, media, and productivity tools into a single ecosystem, the platform reduces complexity, lowers cognitive load, and helps operators focus on the task at hand.
Mikael Lundaby, head of experience design at Volvo Group Design, said: "Great experience design is about making complex technology feel simple and intuitive for the people using it. Integrated Volvo Co-Pilot shows what we can achieve when design, engineering, and machine platform teams come together around a shared vision, guided by insights from the operators themselves. This Red Dot Design Award recognizes not only the experience we've created, but also the years of collaboration, innovation, and dedication behind it."
A consistent system that can be tailored to each project
A hauler, an excavator and a wheel loader do very different jobs, yet operators may work across them. Integrated Volvo Co-Pilot keeps the navigation, visual structure, interaction logic and common functions operators rely on consistent across the range. At the same time, contextual features and tailored work modes ensure each machine experience is optimized for its specific tasks, environments, and workflows.
The result is a shorter learning curve, easier movement between machines, and a more intuitive, self-explanatory operator experience. For fleet owners, that means less time spent on training and more time on productive work.
Safety is built directly into the platform
The camera system is part of the platform, not an add-on. Safety is built into the user experience through contextual information, integrated camera views, and machine-specific widgets that help operators understand their surroundings and make confident decisions. The system automatically presents the right information at the right moment. On a hauler climbing a steep incline, where the operator sees mostly sky, the front cameras activate automatically to restore visibility over the crest. On excavators, Integrated Volvo Co-Pilot provides information from Volvo Smart View and Obstacle Detection, helping operators maintain awareness of people and obstacles around the machine. Because the machine system and Co-Pilot now work as one, safety functions can act directly on the machine.
Whether monitoring payload, loading to the right weight, digging with centimetre precision with Dig Assist, relying on stability functions in demanding conditions, or staying alert through boundary stop warnings, operators have the support they need in the same place as everything else. Screens are less cluttered, showing only what matters for the current task. By delivering the right information and actions in the right context, the platform reduces distraction and helps operators work more efficiently.
Johanna Huggare, head of operator & electronic systems at Volvo CE, said: "Integrated Volvo Co-Pilot combines a consistent operator experience across Volvo CE's machine portfolio with the machine-specific functionality needed for different applications. That shared digital foundation makes it easier for operators to move between machines today, while enabling us to continuously enhance the experience through software updates in the future."
