Honda and Nissan reported to be planning a shared vehicle operating system
The two carmakers are in late-stage talks to jointly develop an operating system for next-generation software-defined vehicles, according to Nikkei Asia.
Honda and Nissan are in late-stage talks to jointly develop a shared operating system for their next-generation software-defined vehicles, Nikkei Asia reported, with a formal technology-development agreement targeted for the end of August. Neither company has confirmed the plan.
According to the reports, the joint OS would build on Nissan’s existing software foundation and shared electronic control units. Nissan announced its Scalable Open Software Platform, an AWS-based development foundation, in December 2025; Honda has developed its own ASIMO OS, already designated for the Honda 0 Series arriving in 2026. How the two stacks would be reconciled is the open question the reported framework is meant to answer.
The talks follow the collapse of the companies’ merger discussions in 2025, and reports suggest the software collaboration could later extend to Mitsubishi Motors.
The economics point one direction: vehicle-OS programs demand multi-billion-dollar engineering budgets that Toyota can amortize across ten million vehicles a year and mid-size OEMs cannot. If confirmed, this would be the largest OS-consolidation move yet among Japanese carmakers.
Source: The Japan Times · First reported by Nikkei Asia