Skoda’s smart connected driving tech, explained

Skoda has a long-held a philosophy of designing cars that are Simply Clever. Whether it’s a ticket holder in the windscreen, an umbrella in the door, or an automatically sliding boot cover, Skoda has continually thought outside the box and gone the extra mile to find a wealth of ways to make life on the road easier, less stressful and simply better.

But what about tech? As more of our devices and lives become more connected – syncing and sharing data and information over the cloud – that extends to the cars we drive, too. Blending the always-online capability of Skoda Connect in your car with the MySkoda app in your pocket, you can now control many features from the comfort of your sofa make journeys easier and more time- and cost-efficient.

But how does it all work in practice? And how has Skoda put you in control to keep all of this technology to make it Simply Clever, rather than simply confusing? 

Learn more about Skoda’s 5-star What Car? lineup

Skoda Connect: the heart of your connected life 

It all starts with Skoda Connect: the always-online navigation and infotainment system that sits at the core of every new Skoda and acts as the heart of Skoda’s streamlined Simply Clever approach to smart connected tech.

Skoda Connect bolsters your Skoda’s in-car navigation with the latest traffic and roadwork information, so you can avoid the jams before you hit them. It can help you find petrol stations, car parks and electric vehicle charging – both close to your route and near your destination – as well as local points of interest such as shops, hotels or restaurants.

It's all controlled by Skoda’s intuitive ‘Hey Laura’ voice control, which understands natural speech to let you control a wealth of Skoda-specific in-car navigation, media, phone and messaging functions – as well as Apple CarPlay and Android Auto apps and functions on any devices which you’ve connected through the USB sockets, Bluetooth or Wireless Smartlink.

The mySkoda app: smartphones, made smarter

Skoda Connect transforms the way you interact with your Skoda when you’re in it, but the MySkoda app – which syncs with your car through the cloud – lets you control many of the features of your car when you’re not even in the same postcode.

Using the MySkoda App you can plan the route and navigation for your next journey from the comfort of your sofa or office desk, before remotely syncing it with your car, ready for your next trip. You can check your car’s fuel levels or battery charge if you have an electric car in advance, as well as your predicted range – comparing it with driving data from your most recent journeys to help you drive more efficiently.

If you have an electric model like the Skoda Enyaq you can even monitor, control and schedule your charging remotely using Plug & Charge and Smart Schedule. It’s great for planning overnight cost-effective charging remotely from the comfort of your sofa when your car is plugged in at home, especially at night when it’s cold. You can even pre-condition your in-car climate control while the vehicle is still plugged in, so you can get in with the car at the perfect temperature.

Equally, when you’re doing a mid-trip top-up or an overnight top-up charge at a hotel or public car park, you can use Plug & Charge to check remotely when you’ve added enough miles – meaning you don’t waste any time on your journey, or spend any more money than you need to on the more-expensive public chargers.

If you’re away from your car in an unfamiliar city or a large car park, you can use the MySkoda app to quickly find your vehicle. You can also check whether it is locked, or you can unlock it for a family member of colleague to put something in the vehicle without even having to step away from what you’re doing.

Finally, if you have a query about how to use any of the features and functions on your car, you can access an online version of your car’s manual and how-to videos. You can also find your nearest Skoda service centre for regular servicing, buying accessories, or quickly dealing with any problems – and that includes Skoda service centres across Europe if you’re travelling abroad.

Skoda Powerpass: making charging even easier

If you’ve picked the all-electric Skoda Enyaq or the Skoda Superb and Kodiaq plug-in hybrids, then the MySkoda app works with Skoda Powerpass – giving you simple one-account one-card one-app access to around 660,000 charging points across Europe from 870 different providers. 

You can choose from three simple Skoda Powerpass membership tiers. First, there’s the Charge Free pay-as-you go option – perfect for if you don’t plan on using public charging that often. Then, there’s Simply Charge, which provides lower charging rates in conjunction with a monthly membership fee. Finally, there’s Charge Faster, which is perfect for using the fast-growing network of ultra-rapid IONITY chargers if you do a lot of charging on motorway journeys.

You can view your charging history, making it great for tracking your costs and any business expenses. It also syncs with the Powerpass Map in your Skoda, letting you share crowd-sourced ratings of charging stations to support the EV community.

Pay to Park: taking the hassle out of payments

Skoda is also pioneering new thinking when it comes to using the power of the cloud and always-online connectivity to make paying for parking easier.

When it comes to finding and paying for public car parks, it’s a part of driving that comes with a wealth of uncertainty. In fact, according to Skoda’s own research, the wealth of different options for car parking payments – from cash to card to online, or automated phone calls and even specific apps – mean that 18% of UK motorists have spent more than 10 minutes trying to pay for a space.

As a result, around 40% of UK motorists say that paying for parking can be as stressful as being late for work, 20% say it’s as stressful as having an argument, while 9% even compared paying for parking as bad as going to the dentist.

That’s why Skoda is pioneering a new and innovative Pay to Park feature – soon to be trialled in the UK – that automatically identifies a car park using the car’s navigation and handles payments automatically. Parking sessions can even be extended remotely using the MySkoda app, so you don’t have the worry of time.

So, those are all the ways in which Skoda is bringing its Simply Clever thinking to in-car tech – empowering the ways you can interact with your car. Maybe it’s time to try some of these features for yourself. 

Learn more about Skoda’s 5-star What Car? lineup