Early this year at the CES 2025 expo in Las Vegas, Akio Toyoda, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Toyota Motor Corporation (Toyota), took visitors five years down memory lane when he announced a new way for the company to explore key technologies shaping the future of the automotive industry.
Toyota had been researching future mobility technologies at various labs around the world until the company was challenged with the question: “what if we had the opportunity to do it all in one place, in a real-life environment, instead of a simulated one?”
The answer would spark a new trajectory for the company, leading to the development a prototype ‘town of the future’ in Susono City, Japan, to study interactions among humans, vehicles, and technologies in a real-world environment.
The Toyota Woven City (Woven City), located in Susono City, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, is designed to function both as an environment where people actually live and work and a laboratory that will serve as a testbed for innovation in mobility and products and services for everyday life.
Akio describes the purpose of Woven City as “more than just a place to live, work and play” and a place where inventors share a commitment to working “for someone other than themselves” to develop, test, and validate innovative products and services.
“At its core, Woven City is about collaboration. It’s about the opportunity to weave together diverse points of view, talents and abilities, to create a new kind of fabric for our future. It is a place where people can invent and develop all kinds of new products and ideas. It’s a living laboratory where the residents are willing participants, giving inventors the opportunity to freely test their ideas in a secure, real-life setting,” he explained.
At its core, Woven City is about collaboration. It’s about the opportunity to weave together diverse points of view, talents and abilities, to create a new kind of fabric for our future.
Akio Toyoda, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Toyota Motor Corporation
Woven City has made steady progress since its groundbreaking ceremony in February 2021, at the former site of Toyota’s Higashi-Fuji Plant in Susono City. Construction of Phase 1 buildings was completed in October 2024. The launch of Phase 1 is planned for the fall of 2025, which will see the first residents move into the city.
A city of weavers
Designed as a human-centered city by Bjarke Ingels Group, residents and visitors will play an equally vital role alongside inventors in Woven City.
Toyota calls future residents and visitors as ‘weavers’ and characterizes them as individuals who share a passion for the expansion of mobility and a commitment to building a more flourishing society. Weavers will contribute to realizing the full potential of Woven City through their participation in co-creation or collaborative product development activities.
The label of weavers is a throwback to the company’s origins in the 1920s as a manufacturer of automatic looms.
“We didn’t start out by making cars, we began by weaving fabric. Toyota will soon be celebrating its 100th anniversary, not as a car company, but as the inventor of the world’s first automatic loom. That’s why we think of the future residents of Woven City as weavers. Because much like test drivers for cars, our residents will be the ones who use and experience the new products and services our inventors develop and will play a critical role in pulling all the threads together,” Akio explained.
We think of the future residents of Woven City as weavers. Because much like test drivers for cars, our residents will be the ones who use and experience the new products and services our inventors develop and will play a critical role in pulling all the threads together.
Akio Toyoda, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Toyota Motor Corporation
Starting in fall 2025, approximately 100 residents, primarily Toyota staff and their families, are expected to become first residents. The community will then gradually expand to include external inventors and their families. Phase 1 is projected to accommodate around 360 residents, and subsequent phases will accommodate up to 2,000 people.
Spaces optimized for product development
One of the goals for Woven City is to overcome the limitations of product development – which typically involves ideating and testing in a lab or office-like setting – by seamlessly integrating the process into daily life. Weavers will have the rare chance to use and interact with innovative products and services, providing inventors with real-time feedback leading to the advancement of mobility technologies for people, goods, information, and energy.
At Woven City, weavers will use and experience the products and services developed by inventors in various places. The Kakezan Invention Hub, for example, is designated for inventors to exhibit their products and for weavers to view them and exchange opinions. The products won’t be finished products, but rather hypothetical or prototype products, which will allow inventors to accelerate their development by receiving immediate and ongoing feedback from weavers. The Hub will also host events where inventors can interact with each other and with weavers.
User interaction with products and services will also extend to the streets. The city environment above ground includes three types of streets: pedestrian streets, streets where pedestrians and personal mobility coexist, and streets dedicated to automated mobility. A fourth type of street, the logistics street, will run underground. The underground streets will enable logistics demonstrations such as automated deliveries, which can be conducted regardless of weather and other environmental conditions.
Unique opportunities for cross-industry collaboration
Woven City aims to drive innovation through collaboration among inventors and feedback from residents and visitors.
Woven City inventors include Toyota and Toyota Group companies such as Woven by Toyota (WbyT), as well as external companies, startups, and individual entrepreneurs.
The inventors of Woven City who have been confirmed so far are as follows.
| Company | Theme of co-creation in Woven City |
| Daikin Industries | Testing pollen-free spaces and personalized functional environments |
| DyDo Drinco | Creating new value through innovative vending machine concepts |
| Nissin Food Products | Creating and evaluating food environments to inspire new food cultures |
| UCC Japan Co. | Exploring the potential value of coffee through futuristic cafe experiences |
| Zoshinkai Holdings | Leveraging data to realize innovative educational methods and new learning environments |
External startups, entrepreneurs, universities, and research institutions are scheduled to be invited to Woven City through an accelerator program, starting in summer 2025.
