Honda revives the ASIMO name for the operating system of its new generation of electric vehicles

In recent years, interesting projects from various manufacturers have begun to emerge, promising the market launch of humanoid robots that will help us with our everyday tasks. The most prominent example of what I’m referring to is probably the Optimus robot from the American electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla.

However, if you’re no longer very young, you’ll surely remember that at the beginning of this century Honda was already working internally in this field and left everyone amazed with demonstrations of its ASIMO robot, an acronym for Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility -Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility-.

With the appearance of a small astronaut from another planet, ASIMO was already capable at that time of performing various tasks, such as walking while waving to the public, playing soccer, or even serving drinks. Although that project unfortunately never materialized into a mass-production product, the Japanese manufacturer surely learned a great deal from that experience, something that may perhaps eventually take shape in some way in the future.

Why are we talking about ASIMO now after so long?

Well, everything has its explanation. Coinciding with the CES 2025 being held in Las Vegas, the Japanese manufacturer has revived the ASIMO name for a new product from the company, although in this case it is not a humanoid robot at all, but rather the first proprietary operating system for the electric vehicles of the 0 Series, named by Honda ASIMO OS.

According to the company itself, this operating system will manage everything from the electronic control units of its 0 Series electric vehicles to the infotainment and autonomous driving systems. One of its most notable features will also be its wireless OTA update capability, which will allow Honda to add new functionalities or fix software bugs as they are detected. Something we have already seen in vehicles from other manufacturers such as Tesla and which customers increasingly demand.

On top of all this, there is the agreement signed by Honda with Renesas Electronics Corporation to develop its own high-performance SoC for its future 0 Series models, which will allow the Japanese manufacturer to maintain greater vertical integration, controlling every aspect of its new-generation electric vehicles. Honda asserts that, in this way, the upcoming new 0 Series models should not be considered simply as new electric vehicles, but rather as a new software and technology experience as a whole.

ASIMO OS will come equipped on all 0 Series models from Honda, including the production versions of the Honda 0 SUV and the Honda 0 estate presented at CES 2025, whose production is scheduled to begin in 2026, with global sales starting shortly thereafter.