Toyota launches Woven City tech testing site

Toyota has opened the first section of its Woven City testing site facility near Japan’s Mt. Fuji. That happened just five years after unveiling the project. The concept aims to hasten real-world testing of next-generation mobility technology.

The global automotive industry is in the midst of a shift to electrification, automation and software-driven innovation. And that was something the then-CEO Akio Toyoda who announced the project in 2020 must have envisioned.

More info on Woven City is here.

Companies like Tesla and Waymo are already conducting autonomous vehicle trials or offering such services in U.S. cities. China’s Baidu and Uber are attempting a similar thing in various international markets.

Toyota’s software-focused technology unit, Woven by Toyota, is developing the new site that simulates a real-life urban environment. Residents live alongside experimental technologies such as autonomous vehicles and robots.

About 300 people, including Toyota employees and their families, will eventually live on-site as part of the first phase of the project.

Once the project is complete, over 2000 people will reside there. Appropriately, it is being constructed on the site of a former car plant.

Toyota aims to build a safer and more secure society by integrating vehicles, people, and infrastructure in a real-world setting. So claims Woven by Toyota CEO Hajime Kumabe.

The company also hopes to test vehicles in a live urban setting in the future. Similar trials are already underway overseas, according to Daisuke Toyoda, Woven by Toyota’s senior vice president. He is also the son of Toyota chairman Akio Toyoda.

That way, safety can be properly guaranteed, Toyoda said.

A dozen Toyota Group companies are participating in the project, collecting data and conducting long-term tests for products and services under development.

For example, air conditioning manufacturer Daikin Industries is testing technology to make indoor air free of pollen with the aim of limiting hay fever symptoms. 

Toyota is testing a self-driving robot with multiple lidar sensors and cameras that can drop off vehicles at designated car-sharing locations.

The robot runs on a system based on technology Toyota already uses to transport vehicles around auto plants.