Honda plans to increase its AI workforce to around 1,000 over the next several years, more than three times its current size, and introduce an allowance providing AI engineers with up to an additional ¥150,000 per month on top of their regular salaries. The allowance also includes an explicit exit strategy, stating that it will end once AI has been adopted company-wide, as Honda advances its talent strategy alongside efforts to shorten development timelines.
Honda has announced plans to increase the number of engineers with AI skills to more than three times its current level, bringing the total to around 1,000 over the next several years. The centerpiece is an allowance scheme providing AI engineers with up to an additional ¥150,000 per month on top of their regular salaries.
The company aims to use AI to shorten vehicle development from the current approximately five years to around three years, a reduction of roughly 40%.
The allowance includes an explicit exit strategy, with the scheme set to end once AI technology has spread throughout the company. This indicates that it is a time-limited measure intended to secure AI talent ahead of broader adoption.
Competition to secure AI talent is intensifying both in Japan and overseas. The size of the allowance, as well as the design of the scheme itself, could influence talent strategies at other companies.