August 31, 2026 - Honda and Nissan to Collaborate on Electronics and Software

This is the Telemetry Transportation Daily for August 31, 2026, and I'm Sam Abuelsamid, Vice President of Market Research for Telemetry. 

Nissan and Honda have both faced significant challenges in recent years, as has much of the auto industry. Both Japanese automakers rely heavily on the North American market, with Honda getting almost 45% of its global sales here in 2025 and Nissan at 34%. Between the collapse of foreign-brand sales in China and the constantly shifting regulatory landscape in the U.S., these manufacturers took some big hits in recent years. In 2024, the two companies reached a preliminary agreement to merge before Honda pulled back and abandoned the deal. However, the companies continued to have discussions about how they could collaborate. Today, they announced a joint development agreement to standardize electronic control units and software platforms for next-generation software-defined vehicles. 

Currently, neither company offers any products that most would consider SDVs, although each has elements of this capability in various products. Honda's use of the same basic all-wheel-drive hardware in off-road SUVs like the Passport and more performance-oriented Acura models that are distinguished by the software controlling it is an example. 

Honda and Nissan have offered few details on their strategy beyond sharing operating systems, middleware and common ECUs for vehicles launching from 2029. Honda was scheduled to launch an all-new zonal electronic architecture and Asimo OS this year on its new generation of electric vehicles, but those vehicles were canceled last spring. It's unknown if the new shared electronic architecture will be based on the work Honda has already done or if they will start over with new hardware and software. Either way, it makes sense for the two companies to share these underlying elements of new vehicles. These are not customer-facing systems, and car buyers are going to be unaware of where it comes from. The applications running on top of this are what customers interact with, and that can be customized to each brand. 

Thanks for listening.