2,000 people will live like guinea pigs

One of the most tourist points in Japan It is Mount Fuji. Such is the fascination that awakens that Japan decided to charge to climb the top with the aim of curbing the massification, and even They ruined the famous photo placing a huge fence. At the foot of the iconic place there is not only Traditional villagesbut also the City of the future. From the future of Toyota, at least, since it is where the Japanese automotive decided to create a city-laboratory called ‘Toyota Woven City ‘.

And after years of works, in September the ‘Phase 1’ of the development of the next brand technologies will start.

Phase 1. With brushstrokes given in the 2018 CES, with more details offered two years later and with the works of the ‘Phase 1’ finished at the end of last year, Toyota is finalizing the details so that his ‘Woven City’ begins to roll. Located next to the plant Higashi-Fuji of the company, in the prefecture of Shizuoka in Japan, through a release They have defined the plant as “a platform to expand the concept of mobility beyond transport.”

After many preparations, the starting point of that ambitious plan will take place on September 25. And, although Toyota carries the singing voice, in Woven City there will be other companies that will work to achieve that end of “reinvent mobility”

Coworking. Toyota, like many other companies, is known for a specific product -in this case, cars -but has a lot of subsidiaries and pàrtes of the group that are dedicated to supporting other industries. Many of them will settle in Woven City, but in their laboratories there will also be space for others that, a priori, have little to do with that goal of enhancing mobility in everyday life.

Two recent examples are interstellar technologies, which is dedicated to the manufacture and development of both rockets and satellites, and Kyoritsu Seiyaku, a corporation that develops, manufactures and imports veterinary medications. Previously, It was already announced That Daikin – AIRs conditioned – would also be in Woven City (and may make sense because there is still no air conditioning systems), but also others such as Dydo Drinco (soft drinks and other drinks), UCC Japan Co.known for his instant noodles).

Laboratory. In total, and counting companies from the Toyota group, at the moment there are 19 companies that will develop their proposals within Woven City. At the moment, it seems a bit abstract, but Toyota sees this installation as a “living laboratory” in which to try advanced mobility technologies, robotics, artificial intelligence, connectivity and sustainability In a real urban environment.

That is, instead of caught the streets of a city to do tests, they have raised their own, fed by solar energy and something that the company put Very interest in the past: Hydrogen fuel cells. We could say that it is a “prototype city”, and its dimensions are considerable.

Enormous. In total, and when the different construction phases are finished, it is estimated that Woven City has about 294,000 square meters of surface. We have already commented that the buildings will be fed by solar panels located on the roofs and by the aforementioned hydrogen batteries, but will also be surrounded by Hydroponic cropswhich are the plants that take the nutrients of mineral solutions and not of the agricultural soil.

City. For the design of the city, they have taken into account three types of streets, differentiated according to the speed of vehicles that can circulate through them and the type of mobility. For example, there are streets for fast vehicles, others for personal mobility and also pedestrian areas, all of them distributed forming an “organic” pattern. And that mobility will be through completely autonomous vehicles and zero emissions.

Many companies are opting for the creation of huge campuses in which to house thousands of workers. Huawei’s are an example, With a huge one and another that Imitate the architecture of several European citiesbut when we talk about the city of Toyota, we literally refer to a city. Apart from the laboratories in which the new forms of mobility and energy for the city of the future are designed, in the Woven City will live people.

In phase 1 it is estimated that some 360 people will live among Toyota employees and their families. They will do it in houses created with ‘Japandi’ style (a Combination between Nordic and Japanese) equipped with advanced support and domestic robotics support and robotics technologies, and the objective is that the city houses some 2,000 people once all phases are completed.

Phase 2. The company’s desire is to test in a scenario as real as possible (although carefully designed and away from what traditional cities can offer) the most leading technologies in mobility, sustainability and urban planning. And, taking what has been learned in the ‘Phase 1’, at some point a new phase will begin that will not only increase the population, but will also expand or perfect the built environment. And in 2026 The doors will open to visit the city and that other people outside the project offer their opinions about the model.

It is a tremendously ambitious goal and the brand does not expect that Be profitable In the first years, since it takes it more as a technological incubator for the planning of the cities of the future than something that offers an immediate return.

Images | Toyota

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