I Went To Toyota's City Of The Future. It's A Work In Progress.

"Once, a traffic light that was supposed to turn green whenever a vehicle approached stayed red for half an hour. In the middle of the night, all the lights in the city turned on for no apparent reason. A robot got stuck, forcing three people to team up and brute-force it out of the way. About six months since the first residents moved in, Toyota's city of the future is still very much a work in progress."

"But six years after Akio Toyoda announced that the carmaker would erect a living laboratory for new mobility technologies, the place exists. A small group of people are living and working there, testing and tweaking the technologies that could define Toyota's future along with a few that probably won't. Last month, Toyota opened up Woven City to non-Japanese journalists for the first time, and I got a peek inside. Here's what I saw."

"Woven City looks about how you'd expect: sparkly clean, cookie-cutter, and a little futuristic. What I didn't anticipate was how eerily empty it would feel. There was virtually nobody walking around. There were no cars coming and going and few signs of life in general. The sprinkly weather during my tour may have had something to do with it. But the reality is that not too many people live there yet. Again work in progress."

"Toyota says that an initial group of 100 Weavers inhabit the city, and all 50 households are Toyota-affiliated. Situated in the shadow of Mount Fuji about a 90-minute drive from Tokyo, the city's first phase comprises a handful of buildings on a plot the size of a few city blocks. A phase two expansion is under construction now. And over time, Woven City's footprint will grow by more than tenfold and its popul"

A traffic light malfunctioned by staying red despite vehicle detection, citywide lights turned on at night without clear cause, and a robot required three people to brute-force it out of the way. Toyota acknowledges such issues while building Woven City, a living laboratory for new mobility technologies. Six years after the announcement, a small group of people lives and works there, testing and tweaking technologies that may shape Toyota’s future. The city appears clean and futuristic but feels eerily empty, with few pedestrians and minimal activity. Toyota reports an initial population of 100 “Weavers” across 50 Toyota-affiliated households, with phase two expansion underway and plans for the footprint to grow more than tenfold.

Read at insideevs.com