TOKYO: Toyota has officially opened its new high-tech experimental village in Japan to road test future technologies.
The project, called “Woven City”, serves as a real-life setting for trialling a wide range of inventions from flying taxis to robot pets and night-time escort drones.
Approximately 360 Toyota employees and company affiliates will soon reside in the development’s smart homes.
Toyota’s chairman Akio Toyoda described the initiative as “a test course for the future, not just a town” during the opening ceremony.
The community is built on the site of a former Toyota factory located at the base of Mount Fuji and is expected to eventually house 2,000 residents.
Toyoda has previously characterised the project as “a living laboratory where the residents are willing participants” for inventors to test ideas safely.
He also stated that “homes in the Woven City will eventually serve as test sites for future technology, such as in-home robotics, to assist with daily life”.
One potential application could involve robots learning how to fold shirts.
The initiative, first announced in 2020, is being led by Akio Toyoda’s son, Daisuke Toyoda.
Daisuke explained that “much like test drivers for cars… our residents will be the ones who use and experience the new products and services our inventors develop”.
The company’s e-Palette self-driving buses will undergo testing within Woven City alongside other autonomous logistics and driving technologies. – AFP
