Volvo Cars is trailing a concierge service that would see cars taken to be refueled, serviced or cleaned for owners.

A range of services will become an integrated part of the Volvo On Call mobile platform.

Volvo is starting a pilot programme in San Francisco for owners of the new XC90 SUV and S90 saloon.

The pilot is due to start this month and will include around 300 Volvo owners.

“Imagine parking your car in the morning at work and when you head home your car has been serviced, cleaned and refuelled.

“These are the kind of services we want to deliver to our customers. Our research shows that people spend hours every week doing these small errands – we want to give that time back to Volvo drivers, so they can do something more valuable instead,” said Björn Annwall, senior vice president, global consumer experience at Volvo Car Group.

Research by Volvo has shown that more than 70% of customers want fuelling services at their fingertips, while 56% want their car picked up for routine maintenance, and 49% would like to be able to have their car moved to another location.

“Our approach is a simple one – we aim to make life easier by employing the latest connected technology in an easy-to-use smartphone app.

“We are taking an open and agile approach to this, and welcome collaboration with partners with new and innovative service offers. This is just the beginning,” said Anders Tylman-Mikiewicz, vice president, consumer connectivity services at Volvo Car Group.

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

Requests are then sent to an authorised Volvo service provider, who will refuel the vehicle, perform scheduled maintenance, or whatever additional service the owner has requested.

The app provides a one-time-use digital key, which is location- and time-specific, and sends it out to the authorised service provider.

When the 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 new location.

Due to the scalable nature of the Volvo On Call platform, new services can be easily added to ultimately offer a whole range of time-saving services around your car.