Japan Automobiles: Honda and Nissan reportedly to jointly develop in-vehicle OS

Research evidence excerpt

Japan Automobiles: Honda and Nissan reportedly to jointly develop in-vehicle OS

Equity Research

27 July 2026 | 8:08AM JST

Japan Automobiles: Honda and Nissan reportedly to jointly develop

in-vehicle OS

The Nikkei reported on July 26 that Honda (7267.T, Buy) and Nissan (7201.T, Neutral) Kota Yuzawa

+81(3)4587-9863 |

have consolidated their policies to jointly develop an in-vehicle OS for kota.yuzawa@gs.com

Goldman Sachs Japan Co., Ltd.

next-generation vehicles based on Nissan’s OS. The Nikkei reported that this decision

Ken Kawamoto

was made based on the progress of their respective development efforts, with a +81(3)4587-1921 |

formal agreement expected as early as August. The scope of consideration is also ken.kawamoto@gs.comGoldman Sachs Japan Co., Ltd.

expected to include the standardization of electronic control units (ECUs). We infer

that Honda and Nissan have each been developing their own proprietary OS to date.

If the OS is standardized as reported, there is a possibility that some technological

assets developed thus far may become redundant. Furthermore, while the report

also mentioned that a plan for Nissan to produce vehicles for Honda in the US is

being considered, it noted the companies’ intention to prioritize cooperation on

next-generation vehicles at this time.

Japanese automakers appear to be lagging global peers in the transition to

electrical/electronic (E/E) architectures that adopt next-generation OSs and in the

development of E2E autonomous driving (Toyota launched the RAV4, the first vehicle

to be equipped with its Arene in-vehicle OS, in December 2025, although with only

partial functionality). Furthermore, the development of a next-generation OS is

closely related to autonomous driving. Generally, full-spec navigation on autopilot