Developers say the aim of Woven City is to gather real-world data on how people and machines interact, helping improve safety and shape future regulations.
A new experimental town near Mount Fuji is being developed in Japan as a large-scale testbed for robotics, artificial intelligence, and autonomous, zero-emissions transport in everyday life.
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The settlement, which currently spans about 47,000 square metres, is already partially inhabited, with early residents moving through streets shared with autonomous vehicles, delivery robots and AI-driven systems.
'Woven City' is being developed by Toyota, and is named as a nod to the Japanese manufacturing company’s origins in textile loom manufacturing.
“Woven City aims to collaborate with mobility from the perspective of social infrastructure. By doing so, we are trying to create greater value,” said Daisuke Toyoda, senior vice president of Woven by Toyota, during a media tour of the site.
“By utilising things like people-related data and pedestrian flow data, and linking them with vehicles, we aim to create a safer and more secure mobility society. Not just for those riding in cars, but also for pedestrians - we want to deliver safety and peace of mind to everyone here,” he added.
Around 100 residents, or so-called "weavers", are already living in the first phase of the town, with plans for up to 2,000 people once fully developed.
Experts say that regulatory barriers in Japan make real-world testing of autonomous systems on public roads particularly difficult, making a controlled “city-like” environment especially valuable.
“This is not a place where, when you want to conduct a field trial, you’re told you can’t because there’s no evidence,” said Toyoda.
“Here, we can try various things and first prove that they are safe and workable. Then, based on that evidence, we hope to help governments improve regulations.”
Residents are already interacting with prototype home robots, autonomous logistics systems, and mobility services that operate beneath the city through underground passageways. Above ground, experiments range from AI safety systems to simulated flying taxis.
Residents effectively become part of the testing process, said automotive expert Shinya Yamamoto.
“Regular people act like test drivers for an automaker - they can try out various things they want to do within the town in a real setting. Then they can directly feed back to the manufacturers whether those things are truly useful for society or for themselves,” he said.
When finished, the full site will expand to around 294,000 square metres and is expected to cost about $10 billion (€8.5 billion).
