CES 2020 – Woven City: Toyota to build a city of the future at the foot of Mount Fuji

[ad_1]

3

What could be better for experimenting with the technologies of the future than building your own smart health connected city? This is the logic that Toyota followed when announcing the construction of Woven City at the foot of Mount Fuji.

At CES 2020, some manufacturers do not hesitate to leave their comfort zone. While Sony is presenting an electric car concept, Toyota is announcing… a city. Baptized Woven City (literally “the woven city”), it will serve to prototype the city of the future according to Toyota. The Japanese brand has chosen to set up its “Living laboratory” at the foot of Mount Fuji (Japan) on a 70 ha site. “Building an entire city from scratch, even on a small scale like this, is a unique opportunity to develop future technologies”says Akio Toyoda, president of Toyota Motor Corporation. This smart health connected city will allow Toyota engineers to develop technologies such as autonomous driving, robotics and even health home automation in a real environment.

A city is nothing without its inhabitants, that's why “Toyota plans to populate Woven City with Toyota Motor Corporation employees and their families, retired couples, traders, visiting scientists and industrial partners”. At the launch of Woven City, the Japanese plan a population of around 2,000. “The residences will be equipped with the latest personal assistance technologies, such as health home robotics to facilitate daily life. Homes will use sensor-based AI to monitoring occupant health, meet basic needs and improve daily life, creating an opportunity to deploy smart health connected technology with integrity and confidence, safely and positively ”says Toyota.

The city will be powered by solar panels and fuel cells. Toyota does not specify the reasons which pushed it towards this technological choice.

Recommended item: Toyota Mirai Concept: the hydrogen car gets a makeover

Only 100% autonomous “zero emission” vehicles will be allowed to circulate in Woven City. Toyota e-Palettes will be used to transport people and goods and may serve as temporary ephemeral shops.

Recommended item: Toyota e-Palette Concept: mobile e-commerce at your door

Three types of lane will coexist: some will be reserved for the fastest cars (let us not forget that the sale of vehicles remains the main activity of Toyota), streets will welcome personal mobility services and pedestrians, while certain areas like the parks will be reserved for the latter.

Bjarke Ingels, via its BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group) firm, will be in charge of designing Woven City. The Danish architect and his teams have notably worked on projects such as the Two World Trade Center skyscraper, or on part of the Googleplex, Alphabet’s headquarters in Mountain View. The start of works is scheduled for early 2021.

[ad_2]