The Yomiuri Shimbun

Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co. intend to adopt shared standard electronic control unit (ECU) designs to be used in vehicles made by both companies, according to sources. The ECUs are core components that will serve as the "brains" of the companies' next-generation software-defined vehicles (SDVs).

This is the first time that specific details of the Japanese automakers' collaboration, for which they began discussions about two years ago, have been learned. They aim to curb development costs through standardization, and they plan to begin installing the units in vehicles as early as 2029. Although the proposed merger between the two companies has been scrapped, they still aim to strengthen their relationship by accelerating joint component development.

The two companies will jointly develop the core ECUs that will control the entirety of each SDV. They also plan to supply these units to Mitsubishi Motors Corp., in which Nissan holds a 26% stake. They are considering standardizing the underlying operating system software as well.

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This article is from The Yomiuri Shimbun. Neither Dow Jones Newswires, MarketWatch, Barron's nor The Wall Street Journal were involved in the creation of this content.

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June 24, 2026 11:05 ET (15:05 GMT)

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