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The story
Reports say Honda and Nissan are moving to collaborate on the basic software (OS) that will serve as the “brain” of next-generation vehicles. The two companies previously explored a full business merger before it fell through, so this time they’re limiting cooperation to the software-defined vehicle (SDV) space. The aim is to counter the rise of upstart EV makers in the US and China, but on 5ch the news drew harsh assessments like “an alliance of losers,” technical skepticism over whether a common OS is even feasible given how much vehicle architectures differ by platform, and conflicting views on the two companies’ financial performance.
Honda and Nissan’s collaboration plan is now moving forward. After two years of twists and turns, the two automakers have chosen the next-generation “software-defined vehicle” (SDV) field as their starting point. By pooling resources, they aim to counter the rise of upstart electric vehicle (EV) makers.
The two companies are expected to formally agree and announce the deal as early as the 31st. This marks the first time Japanese automakers have joined forces in a core SDV area such as basic software (OS).
SDVs improve functionality through software updates, much like smartphones…(continues in the paid edition, 932 characters remaining)
Source: nikkei.com / Original article here
What people said
Isn't that basically a crime?
Subcontractors are getting layoffs or pay cuts now
Thanks a lot, Toyota
Toyota Motor <7203> announced on the 27th that it will ask some of its parts suppliers to lower parts prices, requesting cuts starting in October equivalent to whatever cost savings they've achieved.
Every company does this.
It's not like anything bad happens if they don't cut prices, either.
Car prices have shot up like crazy, so give a little back down the chain.
Pulling cheap stunts like this is exactly why they're hated.
I'd refuse and say I don't need Nissan even if it killed me.
Someone as clueless as you could never become an exec, but Honda right now is in worse shape than Nissan.
After accounting for EV gains and losses,
they still posted a ¥400 billion profit this year.
Read the Shikiho (Japan's quarterly corporate almanac) before you post.
So you're fine with your smartphone or PC OS only updating once every five years too?
Maybe you don't need new features or improvements if you're just an old geezer, but security would end up full of holes lol
https://youtube.com/shorts/n4Aib707nfM?si=KyH8byIX_0gMHGgU
These days even gas cars are getting snorkel options like off-road 4x4s.
The Alliance for Centrist Reform: "…" (a short-lived, largely forgotten Japanese political party)
Ireland, and the United Kingdom (literally the "Allied Kingdom")
They tuned it so the brake lights trigger more easily during deceleration, and it turned into a car plagued by that flickery on-off brake light problem.
Funny how, full circle, the old control that made brake lights harder to trigger was actually easier to drive behind.
Honda, who used to look down on everyone, is running huge losses too…
Nissan knew about Honda's finances through the banks.
Honda posted record-high profit this year though.
Yeah, and they sold off their Aoyama headquarters building too.
Is a "smartphone on wheels" really what users want, though?
I don't think that many people are actually making heavy use of all those apps.
American pickup trucks = Japan's kei cars
Sony ended up embarrassed after even holding a reveal ceremony for theirs.
Because it wasn't finished.
BYD's momentum can't be stopped anymore.
Sad but that's reality.
BYD's sales are already dropping fast, in case you hadn't noticed?
Especially a disaster back home in Greater China.
Re: #56
Warranties on 2.6 million Chinese EVs are expiring within the year, with no real plan in place for battery degradation, breakdowns, repair/replacement costs, or safety — so what happens then?
They're sitting on ¥13.4 trillion in accounts payable and asking suppliers for 270-day payment grace periods. If there's actually a way out of that, I'd love to hear it.
That's false.
AI explanation:
Bearings from major Chinese makers like C&U (人本集团), ZWZ, and LYC are rigorously ISO-managed and high-precision, with durability comparable to major Japanese and European manufacturers.
Chinese parts are the worst though.
Asking anyone to trust them is a nonstarter.
They should be using Toyota's Arene to turn it into Japan's answer to Google or Windows — idiots.
If you've ever built your own PC you'd get this:
software alone doesn't boost performance.
You need to handle the motherboard, memory, CPU, and power supply together too.
I hear rumors that Arene isn't going well either.
The story goes that since the architecture differs by platform, it's genuinely hard to just define a common OS and EE architecture.
The exact same thing applies to the Honda-Nissan alliance's common OS.
They'd basically have to start by having one side align its EE architecture to the other's platform, but I have a feeling neither one will ever budge.
Once Chinese EV motorcycles and scooters really move in, Honda's finished, easily.
Isn't that basically the plan — dump the car division onto Nissan before eventually spinning it off entirely?
Especially the domestic sales side.
I think cars need a real-time OS.
We're talking about real-time control while driving at 100+ km/h, so middleware processing power, sensing, and SoC compute performance are all orders of magnitude short of what's needed.
Drop a single frame of processing and the car goes out of control.
The "OS" being talked about here is a vehicle OS to begin with —
it's a level above things like Linux, not the OS running inside individual ECUs.
Anyone going on about real-time OS here is completely missing the point.
Background and Key Points of This Debate
SDV (software-defined vehicle) refers to a design where a car’s functions improve through software updates, much like a smartphone, with the basic software (OS) and the electronic/electrical (EE) architecture serving as the key. Toyota has already developed its own OS, “Arene,” so even among Japanese automakers there’s no unified approach. In the thread, technical skepticism stood out over whether a common OS can realistically be built from scratch when vehicle architectures differ by platform, alongside conflicting assessments of Honda’s and Nissan’s financial results. It’s also worth noting that “OS” means two different things here — a real-time OS that controls individual components versus a vehicle OS that oversees the whole car — and that mix-up fueled some of the thread’s talking-past-each-other. Chinese EV giants like BYD also drew scrutiny over financial concerns lurking behind their rapid expansion, so who’s actually ahead isn’t a simple call.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (News Speed+) thread “[Honda/Nissan] Japanese automaker alliance on ‘car brains’ to counter US and Chinese EV upstarts.”
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