Futuristic $10 billion driverless Japanese city by active volcano nearing completion

A futuristic $10 billion driverless Japanese city is nearing completion much to the excitement at those in the local area.

We've heard all about the Saudi Arabia’s $1 trillion giga-project ‘The Line’, with the Middle Eastern country pushing ahead with its massive project, NEOM.

Now, ambitious plans to build a utopian sustainable city at the foot of an active Japanese volcano are nearing completion.

The project, which was first announced in 2021, has seen car giant Toyota hard at work constructing their Woven City.

Remarkably, it is just miles from Mount Fuji on the island of Honshū - where it will very soon house residents.

In fact, it's anticipated that the first 2,000 residents will move into their new digs by the end of the year.

However, it will only initially house 360 residents, before expanding to the 2,000 mark.

Toyota

The brand-new area will be used as a 'living laboratory' so that Toyota can collect data on 'the use of driverless cars, guided by sensors in lights, buildings and roads' across the city.

Woven City is also being marketed to residents as a 'mass human experiment' for Toyota to test ‘E-palettes', the company's renewable and energy-efficient self-driving vehicles.

Essentially, the company wants to work out a better understanding of patterns in both automotive and pedestrian traffic.

As for the homes, they have been dubbed as 'smart homes', because they will strictly run on hydrogen in order to reduce emissions.

The city has only taken a few years to complete, though it has cost a whopping $10 billion to get to the stage it's at now.

Toyota

Akio Toyoda, Toyota’s president, said: ‘Building a complete city from the ground up, even on a small scale like this, is a unique opportunity to develop future technologies, including a digital operating system for the city’s infrastructure."

He continued: "‘With people, buildings and vehicles all connected and communicating with each other through data and sensors, we will be able to test connected AI technology in both virtual and the physical realms, maximising its potential."

Alongside the whole renewable theme, Woven City is said to have been built with traditional Japanese-style wood.

Toyota

And if you head over to the Toyota website, you'll see the vision for the city is broken down into three categories; expanding mobility, enhancing humanity and engaging society.

"Woven City is a test course for mobility to realize our dream of creating well-being for all," Toyota posted on its update page.

"Starting from Susono by Mt. Fuji, we will conduct trials of new ideas for systems and services that expand mobility and unlock human potential."