In Toyota’s future city prototype, autonomous vehicles rule the streets

Imagine a city with an autonomous delivery network, roads allocated by vehicle speed, and in-home robots monitoring your health. Could happen, if Toyota’s new project works out.

The Japanese auto company revealed plans at CES Monday to build a prototype “future city” at the base of Mt. Fuji. They’re calling it the “Woven City.”

The 175-acre site will be used to test various forms of Toyota’s technology in a ‘real-life’ environment, especially that of autonomous vehicles and personal mobility. The city will be primarily powered by hydrogen fuel cells (plus solar) and feature a grid of roads designated by vehicle speed.

Behind the project is star Danish architect Bjarke Ingels, whose team is responsible for New York’s World Trade Center and Denmark’s Lego House, among other high-profile projects.

“Building a complete city from the ground up, even on a small scale like this, is a unique opportunity to develop future technologies, including a digital operating system for the city’s infrastructure,” said Toyota Motor Corporation president Akio Toyoda in a press statement. 

“With people, buildings, and vehicles all connected and communicating with each other through data and sensors, we will be able to test connected AI technology… in both the virtual and the physical realms… maximizing its potential.”

The Woven City is still in an early, wildly conceptual stage, with the groundbreaking for the site planned for early 2021, but among the scant details are some pretty interesting features. Just for fun, here are the highlights:

Roads will be sorted by vehicle speed

How one gets from A to B in the Woven City will be designated on the street by speed. Three street types will be woven through the city, one for each speed:

This designated zoning, according to Toyota, will help accelerate (for want of a less thematic term) the testing of autonomous vehicles in the city. The pedestrian-only zones will be realized in the form of public parks and promenades, which double as green and recreation space. Only fully-autonomous, zero-emission vehicles will be allowed on the main roads. Bikes don’t really get mentioned, but they’d likely go in the middle type of road.

There’ll be a network for autonomous delivery

As main roads will be populated only with AVs, an autonomous delivery network will be easily incorporated into the city. Toyota’s self-driving e-Palettes will be used for both transport and deliveries — these can be used for ride sharing or as a mobile retail or office space too, and are said to be able to fit about four people. We’ll see them in action well before the Woven City at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, running a loop service around the athletes’ villages.

Homes will come with some kind of health-monitoring robot 

The description of the Woven City residences is pretty vague at this point, but Toyota said homes will be equipped with “the latest in human support technologies, such as in-home robotics to assist with daily living.” Without giving detail on what this looks like —whether it’s a smart home assistant or something more built into your very walls — the homes will use “sensor-based AI to check occupants’ health, take care of basic needs.” 

Buildings will be mostly wood and built by robots

All buildings in the Woven City will be built primarily from wood, with roofs covered in photo-voltaic panels to generate solar power (that’s in addition to the hydrogen fuel cells). Robots will be employed to build the structures using traditional Japanese wood joinery — move down the bench, nails, and screws.

So, who gets to live there?

Bad news if you don’t work for the Toyota Motor Corporation, as the city will primarily be populated by employees and their families. Researchers testing the AV, AI, and robotics technology that will run the city will make up a large portion of the city’s inhabitants. But never fear, the company has also said “retired couples, retailers, visiting scientists, and industry partners” will be invited to live there too, opening up possible research partnerships. 

“We welcome all those inspired to improve the way we live in the future, to take advantage of this unique research ecosystem and join us in our quest to create an ever-better way of life and mobility for all,” said Toyota in a press statement.

The plan is to start with 2,000 people and grow, which is less a city, more a small town, really.

At the very least, can we visit?