The city where every resident takes part in an experiment: Woven City, Toyota's crazy project. Photo: Toyota Press Toyota has announced the official opening of Woven City, an innovation city built in Japan that will serve as a living testbed for the development and testing of technologies, services and products in the fields of mobility, transportation, energy and quality of life.
The city, first unveiled in 2020 following Toyota's vision announcement at CES, is now moving from development to operation. The first phase will see around 300 Toyota Group employees and their families living there as the first pilot residents. The city is expected to open to the public in 2026.
The city where every resident takes part in an experiment: Woven City, Toyota's crazy project. Photo: Toyota PressWoven City is designed to serve as an active urban laboratory, where technologies can be tested under real-world conditions. Among other things, the city includes a three-layer road system that separates pedestrians, personal mobility vehicles, and vehicles, an underground road network for transportation and logistics, a smart traffic light system, and urban infrastructure that includes sensors and cameras for data collection.
The project currently involves 20 partners, including industrial companies, startups, research institutions and technological entities. The projects being tested in the city deal with, among other things, electric vehicles, smart logistics, robotics, health, education, food, space and artificial intelligence.
After five years: Woven City, Toyota's crazy project, begins. Photo: Toyota PressAmong the developments that will be tested in the city are autonomous shared car services, personal electric mobility vehicles, autonomous logistics solutions, smart home technologies, advanced education systems, and even research in the fields of coffee, food, and health.
The launch of the city marks a new phase in Toyota's mobility strategy, which seeks to examine how transportation, information, energy and urban services can be integrated into one urban space and create new solutions for everyday life.
Toyota opens the city of the future Woven City in Japan. Photo: Toyota PressAkio Toyoda, Chairman of the Board of Directors at Toyota Motor Corporation and Master Weaver of Woven City, explained that Woven City seeks to create Kakezan, a connection that multiplies the value created by collaboration.
Toyota went on to explain that a company cannot create a meaningful Kakezan on its own, as this is something that requires people, ideas, and other partners. "The more people join us, the greater the value we can create together. If we combine our efforts, and also our smiles, we can weave a better future together," Toyoda added.
Toyota opens the city of the future Woven City in Japan. Photo: Toyota Press