Toyota Breaks Ground for ‘Woven City’

Toyota Motor Corporation (Toyota) and Woven Planet Holdings (Woven Planet) - the Toyota Group company responsible for a wide range of mobility development projects anchored in software - has recently held a ground-breaking ceremony for the construction of Woven City at the old vehicle yard adjacent to the former Higashi-Fuji Plant site of Toyota Motor East Japan.

"The Woven City project has officially started," said Toyota President Akio Toyoda. "Taking action as one has decided is never an easy task. I would like to express my deepest gratitude to all who have provided their whole-hearted support and cooperation to the project through today. The unwavering themes of the Woven City are 'human-centered', a ‘living laboratory' and 'ever-evolving'. Together with the support of our project partners, we will take on the challenge of creating a future where people of diverse backgrounds are able to live happily."

Toyota announced the construction of the Woven City in January at CES 2020 in Las Vegas to prepare for an era in which all ecosystems that support everyday life are connected with data. Woven City aims to continuously create advancements that help better society by accelerating the cycle of technology and the development of services.

The project strives to demonstrate a human-centered approach to community development. As part of Toyota's shift from an automobile manufacturer to a mobility company, Woven City will bring new technology to life in a real-world environment across a wide range of areas - including automated driving, personal mobility, robotics and Artificial Intelligence (AI). The project is expected to provide a number of exciting opportunities for businesses and researchers around the world.

Woven City will feature three types of streets, which will be interwoven with one another on the ground level; one dedicated to automated driving, one to pedestrians and one to pedestrians with environmentally friendly personal mobility vehicles. There will also be one underground road used to transport goods. The community will start with roughly 360 residents, mainly senior citizens, families with young children and inventors, and will eventually  grow to a population of more than 2,000 individuals, including Toyota employees. The infrastructure of Woven City seeks to foster an environment where inventions that have the potential to solve social issues are created in a prompt and timely manner.