- Woven City marks first anniversary.
- About 30 proof-of-concept trials under way.
- Seven new Inventors bring total to 31.
- Phase 2 due by end November 2028.
- Public visitor reservations open in Japan.
Toyota Woven City, jointly developed by Toyota Motor Corporation and Woven by Toyota (WbyT), has marked its first anniversary as a mobility test course, with around 30 proof-of-concept (POC) trials under way and construction of its second phase now started.
The site in Susono City, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, is a living laboratory built around Kakezan, the multiplication of strengths and expertise across industries. About 160 people across roughly 80 households take part as Weavers, the residents who join the trials, while companies known as Inventors refine their products through cycles of Kaizen, or continuous improvement.
Woven City trials and household robots
WbyT is testing the Woven City Integrated ANZEN System and, under a partnership with Shizuoka Prefecture, will expand testing within the 2026 financial year by fitting devices to prefecture government vehicles. The AI Robot Association has placed household robots, which tidy up and carry items, in 11 households, with more than 1 000 tasks tested as of 24 September.
UCC Japan, which runs the Ueshima Coffee Lounge in Woven City, has developed a way to graph more than 300 behavioural data points from participants and will use it to examine how different coffees affect concentration.
Woven City AI Vision Engine 2.0
WbyT plans to release AI Vision Engine 2.0 by the end of 2026. It will expand the system’s ability to describe real-world events in natural language, reason why events occurred and detect specific behaviours by people and mobility technologies in visual data. WbyT says the update has recorded leading scores on more than 10 benchmarks in its internal testing, including those measuring reasoning.
Seven new Inventors join Woven City
Four winners of the Toyota Woven City Challenge, Hack the Mobility, have joined: Aerial Base, Aillis Inc, JOYCLE Inc and NationX Inc. Their work covers drone logistics, AI-driven medicine, on-site waste conversion and an AI decision-making platform for the city.
Chubu Electric Power Miraiz Co Inc, Daihatsu Motor Co Ltd and Hitachi Construction Machinery Co Ltd have also joined, bringing the total to 31. Daihatsu will test a mobility and energy services platform enabled by microgrids powered by automotive technology.
Phase 2 construction and public visits
Construction of Phase 2 began in September 2026 and is scheduled to be completed by the end of November 2028, covering about 52 000 square metres for around 600 residents. Phase 1 covers about 47 000 square metres for around 300 residents, and the full site is planned to house approximately 2 000 people.
From 1 October, Woven City opened visitor reservations to the general public in Japan. A resident recruitment drive in Shizuoka Prefecture in August drew more than 1 000 applications, and approximately 25 households are expected to move in around March 2027.
Supplied by Newspress UK (Toyota)
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