Honda Motor and Nissan Motor agreed to collaborate on the development of in-vehicle software last week, but at least one academic says the duo should be joined by heavyweight Toyota Motor in order to better compete with foreign rivals.
"Only two or three operating system makers for cars will survive — globally,” said Hiroaki Takada, an information science professor at Nagoya University, who also chaired the Japanese government’s committee on software-defined vehicles.
The government set a goal in May of having Japanese companies account for 30% of the software-defined vehicle market worldwide by 2030. Automakers or technology firms responsible for the operating systems behind the software to make cars smarter and more autonomous will become just as crucial to advances in passenger transport as those making engines or batteries.