Toyota aims to open its futuristic city in Japan this year

TOYOTA Motor plans to move in the first 100 residents of a futuristic city at the base of Mount Fuji in Japan by as soon as this fall.

The initial residents of Woven City will be composed mostly of the carmaker’s own employees and their families, and will gradually expand to about 2,000 residents as part of its initial phases, Toyota said on Monday (Jan 6).

“This year, residents will begin to move in as we slowly bring Woven City to life,” Toyota chairman Akio Toyoda said at a press conference at CES in Las Vegas. “We aim to accelerate the pace at which new technologies can be tested and developed at Woven City.”

Toyoda debuted plans for the “living laboratory” five years ago as Toyota’s then-president, saying then it would be a fully sustainable city and real-world showcase for artificial intelligence, advanced robotics, self-driving cars and smart homes.

But it will not be open to the wider public for at least two years and Toyota’s chair said it may never be profitable.

“Will this Woven City make Toyota any money? Well, maybe not,” Toyoda said. “As global citizens, I believe Toyota has a responsibility to invest in our collective future.”

A key part of Toyota’s broader Woven initiative is a new software platform and vehicle operating system it calls Arene, which is designed to speed up car development and lower costs. It plans to deploy the system this year and make it a core component of its next-generation electric vehicles starting in 2026.

Toyota appointed a new head of the wholly owned Woven subsidiary in 2023 as part of a shift from a research-heavy focus to become more involved in the production of next-generation vehicles. BLOOMBERG

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