Exciting progress is underway for Toyota’s ambitious project: the construction of a sustainable utopian city nestled at the base of an active Japanese volcano. Since its announcement in 2021, Toyota has been diligently working on Woven City, situated just a stone’s throw away from Mount Fuji on Honshū island. Anticipation is mounting as the first of an expected 2,000 residents prepare to call this innovative city home by year’s end.
While buzz surrounds the completion of Woven City, it’s worth noting that other mega-cities, like Saudi Arabia’s ‘mirror city’ project The Line, are also making significant strides globally. Marketed as a ‘mass human experiment,’ Woven City serves as a living laboratory for Toyota to trial their renewable and energy-efficient self-driving vehicles, known as ‘E-palettes.’
These vehicles, equipped with sensors embedded in lights, buildings, and roads throughout the city, will provide invaluable data on both automotive and pedestrian traffic patterns. Furthermore, Woven City’s ‘smart homes,’ powered predominantly by hydrogen, underscore Toyota’s commitment to sustainability and eco-friendliness in this £7.8 billion endeavor.
Akio Toyoda, Toyota’s president, expresses enthusiasm for the project’s potential to pioneer future technologies, including a digital operating system for city infrastructure. With interconnected people, buildings, and vehicles communicating through data and sensors, the possibilities for testing connected AI technology are vast, both virtually and in reality.
In a nod to tradition, most buildings in Woven City will embrace the timeless charm of Japanese architecture, constructed primarily from wood. Yet, even these artisanal techniques will see a modern twist, with robots programmed to handle the heavy labor involved.
As Woven City nears completion, it stands as a beacon of innovation, blending tradition with cutting-edge technology in a quest to redefine urban living for generations to come.