Toyota Is Building a $10 Billion Smart City at the Base of Mount Fuji

• Woven City, Toyota’s $10 billion smart city, is set to welcome its first residents in 2025.
• The company said the 175-acre site at the base of Mount Fuji would be a testing ground for robotics and self-driving tech.
• Chairman Akio Toyoda said the city could include “pet robots” for older people and drones for joggers.

Toyota’s “Woven City,” a $10 billion smart city at the base of Mount Fuji, is beginning to take shape.

The Japanese automaker announced the “city of the future” in 2021, with the 175-acre site set to serve as a testing ground for advanced technology such as robots, self-driving vehicles, and flying cars.

Toyota gave an update on Woven City at CES on Monday, saying the “living laboratory” has now completed the first phase of construction with an official launch planned for 2025.

The city is also set to welcome its first residents this year. Toyota said the first 100 residents would move into the site in fall 2025. The first inhabitants will primarily be Toyota employees and their families, with Woven City eventually expected to accommodate 2,000 “weavers.”

Woven City is part of Toyota’s attempt to rebrand itself as a “mobility” company, as storm clouds gather over its core car business.

The world’s largest automaker may have cashed in on the growing popularity of hybrids, but a sluggish rollout of electric vehicles has seen it come under pressure from upstart Chinese automakers.

Toyota reported a major drop in quarterly profits and slumping sales in China in its November earnings.

The company is banking that its investments in advanced technology will help it compete with the likes of Tesla and BYD, with Woven City serving as a testing ground for the most futuristic ideas.

Toyota said in 2021 that the city will feature AI-powered smart homes and a road plan with three different kinds of streets, accommodating robotaxis, bikes, and pedestrians.

Designed by Bjarke Ingels, the architect behind 2 World Trade Center in New York City and Google’s California and London headquarters, Woven City will also heavily incorporate robotics.

Toyota chairman Akio Toyoda told a press conference at CES that the city could include “pet robots” for older people and personal drones that would escort joggers to ensure their safety.

The first batch of “inventors” set to trial their products in Woven City, which Toyota announced on Monday, were slightly less futuristic.

They included air-conditioning manufacturers, an instant noodle maker, and a coffee company that promised to “explore the potential value of coffee through futuristic café experiences.”