Woven City Project Updates - Insights Discussed During Toyota's First-Half/Second-Quarter Financial Results Question-and-Answer Session
Toyota's Prototype City of the Future: Woven City
Toyota Motor Corporation has announced its plans for a futuristic city, named Woven City, which will be built at the base of Mount Fuji in Japan. The project, first envisioned by Akio, started in early 2021 with groundbreaking scheduled for February 23, 2021.
The city, a prototype of Toyota's vision for the future, is being built on the site of the Higashi Fuji Plant, which is scheduled to close next month. Akio sees this site as an important link to the future, leading to the origin of the prototype city project.
The basic unit of Woven City, a 150-meter by 150-meter block, will have three roads at ground level and one underground. One road will be dedicated for autonomous vehicles, another for pedestrians, and the third for small mobility and pedestrians. The underground road will be for the movement of goods and will be used for testing the simplest level of automated driving.
Akio is flexible in making decisions for the Woven City project, basing them on the latest available information. He holds a meeting with Woven City project members every three weeks to make important decisions. The progress of Woven City has been steady, but specific completion, opening to the public, and moving-in dates have not been announced publicly.
The goal is for the inventors to create solutions to challenges faced by the elderly and families. Akio expects around 360 residents to live in Woven City, consisting of elderly people, families, and inventors.
Toyota is actively recruiting partners for Woven City to develop safe mobility and infrastructure together. The company has partnered with a range of organizations including tech companies like Microsoft, Panasonic, and various research institutions, totaling more than a dozen partners collaborating on the project.
Akio has stated that Woven City will be an ever-evolving living laboratory and will never truly be considered "finished". Discussions and decisions are conducted at every step of the process and repeatedly in the Woven City project.
During the most recent financial results briefing, Akio expressed that instead of stopping projects during the COVID-19 pandemic, Toyota has decided to continue business as usual. Akio is working with the cooperation of the community and nearby suppliers to secure jobs for employees who cannot transfer from the Higashi Fuji Plant.
The date of February 23 was chosen for the groundbreaking because it reads "Fuji-san" (Mt. Fuji) in Japanese, symbolizing the deep connection between the city and the iconic mountain. With its focus on sustainability, safety, and innovation, Woven City promises to be a pioneering step towards the cities of the future.
