When it comes to cars, we’re used to seeing them on big plots of land where automakers set up fake city backdrops and use special effects to test out new features. But Toyota is taking that a step further with Woven City, a prototype of a city that it hopes will serve as a testing ground for technologies like autonomy and robots.
Located at the base of Mount Fuji in Japan, Woven City will have some full-time residents and researchers who’ll live and work there while Toyota builds and tests out all sorts of systems, applications, and services designed to enhance and improve people’s lives. It’s an ambitious project, but one that Toyota thinks will help create “the fabric of mobility that enables humans to thrive.”
The first project involves a collaboration with Joby Aviation, a company that develops and commercializes quiet, all-electric vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft for on-demand air transportation. The partnership will enable Toyota to apply its expertise in manufacturing, quality, and cost control to help expedite the development and production of Joby’s aircraft for the urban air taxi market.
Another project involves the use of autonomous drones for cargo delivery. Toyota’s affiliate supplier Jtekt invested in Prodrone, a company that is working on an aerial minitruck slated to carry up to 50 kilograms for a distance of up to 50 kilometers. It’s a bold vision, but one that could be useful for remote areas, disaster sites, or anywhere else where a traditional truck might have difficulty accessing certain locations.
Toyota also has plans to deploy its 豊田市 ドローン own self-driving technology on a real road, albeit on a much smaller scale. In late 2022, it will begin testing a prototype version of the e-Palette, a modular battery electric vehicle designed to be scalable and customizable for a range of Mobility as a Service businesses, including ride-sharing, carpooling, delivery, and mobility assistance services.
Toyota will start by offering a pilot program in 2022 to customers who want to try out the technology on short trips. If all goes well, Toyota plans to launch the system nationally in 2025. The company hasn’t said how many e-Palettes it will make available or whether they’ll be sold exclusively through the company’s own network of dealers and authorized dealers. But the company wants to learn what people like and don’t like about the vehicles and gather data about how they’re used in the field. That will help them make further improvements.
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