Toyota Says Woven City Innovation Incubator Is Ready for Residents

January 7, 2025

Chris Clonts

Phase 1 of the Woven City project is ready for residents, for whom the site is set up to be an innovation incubator. (Woven by Toyota)

At the 2025 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Toyota announced that it has completed phase one construction of what it calls Toyota Woven City, a full-scale area dedicated to testing different mobility technologies. The company said it will be ready for use sometime this fall.

The open and naturalistic design of the Woven City is the product of the Denmark-based Bjarke Ingels Group. (Woven by Toyota)

Construction started in 2021 at the site of the former Toyota Motor East Japan’s Higashi-Fuji Plant in Susono City. Toyota first announced the project in 2018.

Phase 1 includes buildings for the program’s partners, including Daikin Industries, which will test “pollen-free” and “personalized functional environments.” Other companies include:

DyDo Drinco, a vending company
Nissin Food Products, which intends to evaluate food environments “to inspire new food cultures. “
Zoshinkai Holdings, which wants to leverage data to create innovation in education with new learning environments.

New mobility definition

As for what mobility technologies will be tested at Woven City, the company said it is going beyond the traditional meaning of mobility as a means to get from place to place. At a separate executive roundtable, Hajime Kumabe, CEO of Woven by Toyota, explained. “Mobility goes beyond physical movement,” he said. “It also has an emotional component.” Roughly interpreted, it means the city will be a means of testing ways that could improve the quality of life beyond the world of vehicles.

The site, chosen because it meant opportunity for a region in northern Japan severely damaged by the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and subsequent tsunami, will include testing of smart logistics such as robot delivery vehicles and stored hydrogen energy “that can be carried,” said John Absmeier, WBT’s CTO.

To that alternate-energy end, Absmeier said that a partnership with ENEOS will bring hydrogen power to many of the Woven City’s projects.

The first 100 people will move in soon, followed by more before the end of the year. The residents will be a mix of innovators, entrepreneurs what Kumabe called “weavers,” the everyday citizens who will test innovations as they are introduced and give detailed feedback. Eventually, execs said, the project would be host to 2,000 residents.

Innovation and rockets

Overall, the goal of the project is to drive innovation and shape a better tomorrow. That’s an abstract goal, but Toyoda said the $10 billion project, which is on 175 acres to start, is part of the corporation’s responsibility as a global citizen.

Among the innovations Toyoda mentioned as possible were pet robotic dogs and drones that would escort people to their walking destination.

The project dates to 2018, when Toyota announced its intention to become a mobility company and not just a vehicle company. One overarching hope among the executives is that WBT eventually becomes a sort of tugboat, pulling along the much larger Toyota Motor Corporation to an innovative future.

Executives at the roundtable also talked about the company’s $44 million investment into Interstellar Technologies, the Japanese company that is focused on space vehicle development, manufacturing and launching. Kumabe mentioned the investment as an example of Woven by Toyota’s push into all facets of mobility.