Toyota’s “woven city,” a $10 billion wise city at the base of Mount Fuji, is beginning to take shape.
The Japanese automaker announced the “city of the future” in 2021, and the 175-acre site will serve as a testing ground for cutting-edge technologies such as robots, autonomous vehicles, and flying cars.
Toyota gave them an update on Woven City on Monday, saying that the “Lab of Life” had already finished the first structure with an official launch planned for 2025.
The city is also expected to welcome its first population this year. Toyota said the first hundred citizens will move to the site in the fall of 2025. The first population will basically be Toyota workers and their families, and the woven city will eventually be home to 2,000 “weavers. “
Tussed City is part of Toyota’s attempt to rebrand itself as a “mobility” company, as clouds gather over its main business, the automobile.
The world’s largest automobile manufacturer would possibly have gained popularity in the development of hybrids, however, a slow deployment of electric cars saw the tension of Chinese car manufacturers.
Toyota reported a major drop in quarterly profits and slumping sales in China in its November earnings.
The company is banking that its investments in advanced technology will help it compete with the likes of Tesla and BYD, with Woven City serving as a testing ground for the most futuristic ideas.
Toyota said in 2021 that the city will feature AI-powered smart homes and a road plan with three different kinds of streets, accommodating robotaxis, bikes, and pedestrians.
Designed by Bjarke Ingels, the architect behind 2 World Trade Center in New York City and Google’s California and London headquarters, Woven City will also heavily incorporate robotics.
Toyota chairman Akio Toyoda told a press conference at CES that the city could include “pet robots” for older people and personal drones that would escort joggers to ensure their safety.
The first batch of “inventors” set to trial their products in Woven City, which Toyota announced on Monday, were slightly less futuristic.
They included air conditioning makers, an instant noodle maker and a coffee company that promised to “explore the coffee perspective through futuristic coffee experiences. “
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