TOYOTA’S jaw-dropping robot ‘city of the future’ is finally ready for its first wave of residents.
The car giant has just thrown open the gates to its “Woven City”, a futuristic mini-metropolis at the foot of Japan’s Mount Fuji, complete with flying taxis and AI-powered homes.
The city officially opened last month, on September 25th, 2025.
What started as a wild idea a decade ago has now become a living, breathing £8billion experiment in how we might live tomorrow.
Built on the site of a disused Toyota factory near Susono City, the project will eventually house more than 2,000 people, all hand-picked from Toyota’s staff and tech partners.
The first lucky 360 residents, known as “Weavers”, have already started moving into hydrogen-powered smart homes that can literally talk to their owners.
Life inside the future
Spread across 175 acres on the site of a disused Toyota factory, the futuristic settlement has been five years in the making.
Each home is fitted with in-house robotics to help with cooking, cleaning and health monitoring, plus artificial intelligence that tracks energy use and wellbeing.
Built mostly from wood for sustainability, these houses are powered almost entirely by hydrogen, making them as green as they are gadget-filled.
And it’s not just the homes that are clever.
The entire city is connected by a vast digital nervous system of sensors, data and AI, which Toyota bosses say will act as a “living digital operating system for urban life”.
The firm’s chairman Akio Toyoda said “It’s a unique opportunity to create a living laboratory for the future.”
No traffic jams
Forget your morning commute, in Woven City, self-driving cars will do all the work.
Toyota’s futuristic E-Palette shuttles, first seen at the Tokyo Olympics, will ferry residents around the city, running on renewable energy and guided by AI.
There’s even talk of self-flying taxis taking to the skies above Mount Fuji, while drones will escort residents safely home at night.
The streets themselves have been designed for different speeds of life, with fast lanes for driverless cars, mixed-use roads for slower vehicles, and peaceful pedestrian-only walkways where families can stroll in safety.
Only zero-emissions vehicles are allowed, with special transport designed for the elderly and wheelchair users.
Robots, pets and hoverboards
While Woven City might sound like something out of Blade Runner, it’s designed to be warm, liveable and surprisingly human.
Alongside the whirring bots and buzzing drones, residents will have interactive robot pets to keep them company, especially aimed at helping elderly people who live alone.
And for getting around, it’s not just cars, residents will have access to e-scooters, hoverboards and all manner of electric personal transport.
Meanwhile, human chefs might soon be out of a job, as robotic cooks are already being tested to prepare and serve meals.
There are even prototypes that can fold shirts.
It echoes what futurist Stephen Oram envisions for future British cities, where wearable health tech alerts of a condition, prompting a robot delivery system to turn up “with some medication you didn’t know you needed”.
From looms to labs
The project’s name, Woven City, harks back to Toyota’s humble origins as a loom manufacturer.
Now, the company says it’s “weaving together” people, ideas and technology to create a brighter, cleaner future.
“This is a test course for the future, not just a town,” said Akio Toyoda.
“No single company can create meaningful innovation on its own — but together, we can multiply our smiles.”
Toyota’s chairman’s son, Daisuke Toyoda, is leading the effort, calling the residents “test drivers for the future”.
They’ll live, work and raise families in the city while inventors and start-ups trial everything from self-driving delivery robots to next-gen healthcare systems.
Singing city
Even the soundtrack is futuristic.
Singer-songwriter Naoto Inti Raymi has composed the official Woven City Anthem, which was unveiled at the launch event in September, celebrating what Toyota calls “the start of life in a city of smiles”.
The company has also opened applications for its “Woven City Challenge”, inviting inventors from around the world to join the experiment and bring their ideas for new mobility tech to life.
While it might sound like something dreamt up by a Hollywood director, Woven City is very real and it’s already buzzing with life.
By the time it’s complete, more than 2,000 people are expected to call this robot city home, living in harmony with machines, nature and cutting-edge technology.
At the base of Mount Fuji’s iconic volcano, the city of the future is no longer science fiction.
