Flying cars and care robots: Toyota’s futuristic city on show at CES

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At the CES 2025 tech convention in Las Vegas, Toyota Chairperson Akio Toyoda revealed the latest developments in Woven City, a futuristic prototype city at the foot of Mount Fuji in Japan.

Woven City is not just a place to live, but a 175-acre “living laboratory” where innovation is the focus. In this experimental environment, residents and business startups are to work side by side in the city to test and develop cutting-edge technologies.

The Japanese motor giant first shared its vision of the utopian city at the CES 2020 event. Toyoda says, “I am happy to announce that we have officially completed phase one of our Woven City Campus.”

With phase one complete, Toyota announces plans to open Woven City to residents by autumn 2025.

In the summer of 2025, Toyota will kick off a pitch competition and offer scholarships for startups and innovators to bring their ideas to life in the city.

“Located at the base of beautiful Mount Fuji in Japan, Woven City is more than just a place to live, work and play. Woven City is a place where people can invent and develop all kinds of new products. 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,” Toyoda says.

Woven City is a showcase for Toyota’s next-generation concept technologies.

The city’s focus on mobility and robotics is clear, with systems already being trialed to integrate drones that escort residents home, interactive robots that assist the elderly, and personal mobility devices like wheelchair race bikes.

“We think of Woven City as a test course for mobility where we can develop any number of solutions, from personal mobility devices like wheelchair race bikes, because everybody should enjoy the joys of going first… to drones that safely escort you home at night… to interactive robots that provide support and companionship for the elderly… to flying cars like this one made by our friends at Joby making the trip from Woven City to Tokyo fast and traffic-free,” Toyoda says.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

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[Akio Toyoda on stage giving remarks before leaving the stage, as lights dim showing a promotional video of Woven City on screen]

Akio Toyoda (presentation): “Located at the base of beautiful Mount Fuji in Japan, Woven City is more than just a place to live, work and play. Woven City 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.”

[Audience]

[Press conference auditorium]

[Toyota logo on screen]

Akio Toyoda (presentation): “We think of Woven City as a test course for mobility where we can develop any number of solutions, from personal mobility devices like wheelchair race bikes, because everybody should enjoy the joys of going first… to drones that safely escort you home at night… to interactive care robots that provide support and companionship for the elderly… to flying cars like this one made by our friends at Joby making the trip from Woven City to Tokyo fast and traffic-free, and for partners like Joby we have even transformed one of our former factory buildings into a laboratory big enough to house an aeroplane.”

[Akio Toyoda on stage explaining the human-centric machine learning technology used to teach robots how to fold t-shirts the Japanese way]

[Stage with projected promotional video showing Toyota’s autonomous tandem drift technology, which assists rally racing car drivers by drifting for them]

Akio Toyoda (presentation): “Now, I know what you are thinking. Will this Woven City make Toyota any money? Well, maybe not. But that’s okay. Because as global citizens I believe Toyota has a responsibility to invest in our collective future, to share what we’ve learned with others and support new ideas that benefit the planet and its people. And that, more than anything else is why we’ve created Woven City.”

[Toyoda giving remarks before leaving the stage and the audience applauding at the end of the conference]

This script was provided by The Associated Press.

The related lesson for this video will be published next Wednesday.