Toyota hires Google HQ architect to build 'city of the future' in Japan

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Toyota Motor Corp plans to start construction of a sustainable ‘city of the future’ near Mount Fuji in early 2021 and for this has hired Google HQ architect Bjarke Ingels’.

While Announcing its detailed plan of building a ‘city of the future’ at the 2020 CES technology show in Las Vegas on 7th January, – Toyota has named its project, the Woven City.

Occupying at least 175-acre site for the planned city at the base of Mount Fuji in Japan, will be tested in a computer simulation before construction which is slated to start early next year once all planning approval has been granted.

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Designed by Danish architect, Bjarke Ingels, who is revered for his housing complexes in Ørestad, Denmark – the Woven City will serve as a functioning laboratory for autonomous cars, smart homes, robotics, artificial intelligence and other technologies – accommodating up to 2,000 people including Toyota employees, retirees and their families, the city will feature the necessary emergency amenities such as a police force, fire and ambulance services, and schools.

Residents will participate in a “real-world incubator” to test and develop new technologies including a fully integrated digital operating system for infrastructure, with “people, buildings and vehicles all connected and communicating with each other through data and sensors”.

Using robotised production methods and traditional Japanese joinery, the sustainable scheme will be built mostly from wood and powered by a combination of roof-top solar panels and hydrogen fuel cells.

Prioritizing Emissions-producing vehicles will be banned, with residents shuttled around the streets in driverless Toyota e-Palette cars.