Futuristic $10 billion driverless city by active Japanese volcano near completion
- This $10 billion driverless city in Japan is nearing completion.
- Built for just 2,000 people, the mass human experiment sits at the foot of active volcano, Mount Fuji, on Honshū island in Japan
- It’s the creation of Toyota and named ‘Woven City’
Published on Mar 21, 2024 at 6:52 PM (UTC+4)
by Amelia Jean Hershman-Jones
Last updated on Mar 21, 2024 at 8:12 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Tom Wood
If you’re keeping a close eye on Saudi Arabia’s NEOM, then you’ll want to know about this $10 billion driverless city in Japan that’s nearing completion.
Built to house 2,000 people, the mass human experiment sits at the foot of an active volcano – Mount Fuji – on Honshū Island, Japan.
Imagined by Toyota, ‘Woven City’, which is still under construction, will be driverless.
READ MORE! Saudi Arabia building tourist resort ‘the size of Belgium’ in the Red Sea
The ambitious and sustainable utopia has been labeled a ‘living laboratory’.
First announced in 2021, construction started the same year.
Since then, Toyota has been hard at work constructing Woven City – which is nearing completion.
In fact, residents expect to move into ‘smart homes’ there before the end of 2024.
These homes will be powered almost exclusively by hydrogen in a bid to reduce emissions.
Toyota will use the site to test prototypes of renewable and energy-efficient driverless cars.
What better place than in a driverless city, right?
The cars will be guided by sensors in lights, buildings, and roads across Woven City.
The ‘E-palettes’ will allow the car manufacturer to gather data from the self-driving vehicles to understand automotive and pedestrian traffic patterns.
“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,” Akio Toyoda, Toyota’s president said.
“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 virtual and the physical realms, maximizing its potential.”
However despite the cutting-edge tech and intention of Woven City, the Japanese multinational company has decided to maintain a traditional feel to its infrastructure with Japanese-style wood used throughout.
On the flipside – robots will act as the artisans behind those touches as well as doing the heavy labor.
The announcement about Woven City comes hot on the heels of an update on Neom’s progress in Saudi Arabia.
The latest progress video of The Line is the clearest indicator of its scale yet – and it’s very impressive.
An ETA on completion was also revealed for the groundbreaking city.
Those in charge of the Neom giga-project recently revealed they’d added a unique futuristic golf resort to their plans.
DISCOVER SBX CARS: The global premium car auction platform powered by Supercar Blondie
All Supercar Blondie contributors undergo editorial review and fact-checking to ensure accuracy and authority in automotive journalism. After gaining her BA Hons in French and English at the University of Nottingham, Amelia embarked on a vocational diploma from the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ). This led to numerous opportunities, from interning at Vogue to being on the small team that launched Women’s Health magazine in the UK, which was named the PPA Consumer magazine of the year for three years running. As Health, Beauty and Fitness editor, Amelia personally received a Johnson & Johnson Award and was shortlisted for both PPA and BSME titles. Since then, Amelia has created content for numerous titles and brands, including the Telegraph, 111 Skin, Waitrose, Red magazine, Stylist, and Elle, as well as being Head of Content at Vitality and Editor in Chief at INLondon magazine. “My superpower is translating technical jargon about the mechanical workings of a supercar into a relatable story you’ll want to share with your friends after you’ve read it.” After joining the SB Media family as a senior journalist in September of 2023, Amelia’s role has evolved to see her heading up the SEO output of the editorial team. From researching the most ‘Google-able’ key terms to producing evergreen content - it’s been a time of hard work, growth, and success for the editorial team and the Supercar Blondie website. “I like to think of myself as a ‘method journalist’. In other words: I live and breathe whatever I am writing about. When writing about fitness, I trained as a personal trainer, and as a beauty editor, I completed an ‘expert’ in scent diploma with the Fragrance Foundation. “During my tenure at Supercar Blondie, however, I did something I never thought possible: I passed my driving test at the age of 36. One day I’d love to train as a mechanic to better understand what happens under the hood, too. “My sweet spot is providing readers with a ‘takeaway’ (read: something new they didn’t know before) after reading every one of my stories. While I don’t claim to be an expert in the automotive world, I know the experts and bodies in the field to rely on to provide our readers with an informative and thought-provoking story every time they visit the site.”
