Toyota built a $10 billion private utopia—what’s going on in there?
Woven City is a privacy nightmare but could be helpful to an OEM desperate to be more.
TL;DR
- Woven City is a $10 billion project by Toyota designed as a 'city of the future' for researchers and scientists.
- The city prioritizes safety with extensive surveillance and aims for zero accidents through vehicle-to-everything communication.
- Ubiquitous cameras and an AI Vision Engine raise significant privacy concerns, despite Toyota's 'Data Fabric' system for consent management.
- The city serves as a creators' hub, fostering collaboration and testing new technologies like AI-powered devices and delivery robots.
- Woven City is designed to be financially sustainable, testing technologies for eventual commercialization by municipalities.
- Early stages show a controlled environment with limited residents and robots that are mostly in conceptual phases.
- Operational challenges exist, particularly with weather impacting the functionality of outdoor robots and vehicles.
- The city's design is aesthetically pleasing with a focus on clean lines and integration of indoor and outdoor spaces.
- Despite its potential, the city currently feels empty and sterile, relying on its 'Weavers' to drive innovation and adoption.