The automobile firm toyota has announced, during the celebration of the CES 2025 technological congress, that its project Woven City has completed the first phase of its construction. This means that its experimental city, intended as a setting for mobility tests, will be launched in the fall of this year.
The Japanese company announced the project at CES 2020 and five years later has reported that the residential space is almost ready to welcome its first inhabitants. Woven City, which is built on the former Higashi-Fuji manufacturing center, in Shizuoka Prefecture, is conceived as a test circuit for the development of mobility solutions, so that engineers and developers can develop, test and validate innovative products and services applying them directly on the ground.
The company’s objective with this project, which according to The Verge has a budget of 10,000 million dollars, is drive innovation and shape a better future. All Toyota Group companies participate in Woven City, as well as external companies, startups and individual entrepreneurs, including Daikin, the beverage company DyDo Drinco, the food company Nissin, and the education firm Zoshinkai.
However, the list of “inventors” who will contribute to this experimental city will expand in the future. The company has assured that it maintains continuous conversations with companies such as Eneos Corporation, Nippon Telegraph or Telephone Corporation (NTT) and Rinnai Corporation; and that he plans to invite collaborate with entrepreneurs, universities and research institutions through an acceleration program that will begin in the summer of 2025.
As Toyota shared in a statement, the intention is to turn Woven City into a unique environment equipped with the tools and services necessary to address social challenges and create future-oriented value. This will be achieved through the co-creation with residents and visitors, whom the firm has nicknamed “weavers”.
The company has indicated that ahead of the launch, scheduled for autumn of this year, Woven City will have approximately 100 residentsmainly Toyota personnel and their families. Additionally, Phase 1 is projected to house about 360 people, while the total population, including Phase 2 and subsequent phases, reach approximately 2,000 people.
At the moment the space is private, although the company plans to open it to the general public in 2026.
“Woven City seeks to redefine mobility, expanding its reach beyond transportation to encompass the movement of people, goods, information and energy”, notes the company in the statement. “Designed as a people-centric city, Woven City puts Developers and Weavers at the core of its approach, unlocking new possibilities in the shared pursuit of ‘Wellbeing for All’‘”.
Toyota’s goal is not only for Woven City to be used for testing to develop electric and autonomous cars, but also for others. mobility services, like bicycles or scooters. The services of this particular city would be powered by hydrogen fuel, one of the issues that has earned it the “LEED for Communities Platinum” certification, awarded by the US Green Building Council.
