By Gary S. Vasilash

According to statcounter, as of November, when it comes to browsers, Chrome has 66.35% of the global market. Then there is a drop WAY DOWN to 9.82%, Safari. So as you can imagine, the rest are below that.

One browser I’d not heard of is Vivaldi. According to the company, “Vivaldi launched in 2015 to make up for the loss of features in other browsers.” And it acknowledges that it is based on the Chromium engine.

Presumably, that makes it part of those Chrome stats.

Be that as it may, the browser is of interest because Polestar has released it for the Polestar 2. The deployment is described as a “full-scale web browser” that allows users “to browse the web as they might on their mobile devices.”

Said Jon Stephenson von Tetzchner, CEO at Vivaldi, “We are really proud to introduce our browser to a car for the first time, and specifically with a brand like Polestar. Our technological and sustainability ambitions are well aligned. We value transparency, privacy and responsible innovation – including the fact that we have our servers in Iceland, one of Polestar’s newest markets. Like Polestar, we are a challenger brand, and we take a Scandinavian approach to design, that is based on trust and listening to our users.” Vivaldi is based in Norway.

The browser can be accessed through the vehicle’s 11-inch screen. It features a built-in ad blocker, privacy-friendly translation tool, notes function, tracking protection and encrypted sync functionality.

It is worth noting that the browser can only be used when parked. Files can be downloaded when parked. And if there is streaming and driving commences, it will be audio only.

In addition to sustainability, safety is another important item on the Polestar agenda.