Toyota chairman Akio Toyoda appeared at CES today to announce progress on the company’s Woven City project which, true to its name, is an actual city where Toyota and other companies hope to invent and validate new technologies. The first phase of construction is complete, and the first companies who will participate in the project have been named. If you’re wondering, the “woven” thing is because, before it made cars, Toyota made weaving looms.
In 2018, Toyota chose CES to announce its intention to transform into a “mobility company,” which was something a lot of car companies were saying at the time. The idea was that companies like Toyota should diversify away from just building cars and into other products and services that enabled movement of people and goods. When the Woven City project was announced in 2020, Toyota said it would be a major contributing factor in that shift.
According to a Wall Street Journal report from 2023, the journey from announcement to functioning incubator hasn’t been without its difficulties, but today’s announcement does reflect another of Toyota’s corporate traits, a willingness to stick with big projects. As phase one wraps, the company is renovating a former plant into a manufacturing hub and beginning work on Phase 2 of the Woven City project.
Toyota calls the non-Toyota companies that will operate in Woven City “Inventors.” So far, the list of “Inventors” is:
- Daikin Industries (air-conditioning), which will be testing “pollen free spaces” and “personalized functional environments”
- DyDo Drinco (soft drinks), which plans to work on new vending machine concepts.
- Nissin Food Products Co (instant noodles), which will create and evaluate “food environments to inspire new ‘food cultures’”
- UCC Japan Co (coffee), which plans to work on futuristic cafe experiences
- Zoshinkai Holdings (education), which will develop new educational methods and learning environments.
Beginning in fall 2025, 100 residents known as “weavers” will move to the city, with that number expected to expand to 360 during phase one. Eventually, Toyota says, up to 2,000 people will reside in the city. They will primarily be employees of Toyota or Toyota’s Woven by Toyota mobility tech company.
Toyota says that additional companies, universities, and startups will be invited to join the Woven City Project in 2025.
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