Toyota is committed to future mobility innovation, investing in rocket startup Interstellar. The AI city will be home to the first batch of residents.

Toyota Motor Corporation, one of the world’s largest car manufacturers, is actively advancing towards self-driving and future mobility innovation. Chairman Akio Toyoda announced at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas that the experimental future city, Woven City, located at the foot of Mount Fuji in Japan, will welcome its first residents this year. Toyota is also venturing into the commercial aerospace industry through an investment in the Japanese rocket startup, Interstellar Technologies.

Woven by Toyota is committed to future mobility innovation

Woven by Toyota is an innovative subsidiary of Toyota Motor Corporation, dedicated to advancing future mobility technology and solutions. It hopes to challenge the status quo, redefine possibilities, and drive the future of mobility through human-centered innovation.

Including investment department Woven Capital dedicated to this goal, advanced operating system Arene OS, and driving assistance system AD/ADAS, as well as experimental future city Woven City, etc.

Toyota Woven City

Woven City is an experimental future city located at the foot of Mount Fuji in Japan, designed to be a testing ground for mobility technology. The city will accommodate approximately 2,000 residents, including Toyota employees, external start-ups, and individual entrepreneurs, to jointly develop and test innovative products and services.

Toyota President Akio Toyoda said at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas:

The first batch of 100 residents will move in this autumn, with the goal of accelerating the pace of testing and developing new technologies in Woven City.

According to Bloomberg, five years ago, Akio Toyoda, who was then the president of Toyota, first proposed the “Living Laboratory” project, calling it a completely sustainable city and a real-world showcase of artificial intelligence, advanced robots, self-driving cars, and smart homes.

Toyota invests in Japanese rocket startup Interstellar

Toyota also invested 700 million yen (about 44 million US dollars) in the Japanese rocket startup Interstellar Technologies Inc. through Woven by Toyota and obtained a seat on its board of directors.

Interstellar Technologies said that its goal is to ‘use the professional knowledge of the automotive industry, including Toyota’s production methods, to transform rocket manufacturing into a high-quality, cost-effective, and scalable process’.

Akio Toyoda said at CES, “The future of mobility should not be limited to cars, or just one car company.”

Toyota began collaborating with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) in 2019 to develop a lunar rover as part of the NASA Artemis program, which aims to send astronauts to the moon. In April, the US State Department stated that astronauts will be able to ride in the Toyota rover and conduct longer explorations on the lunar surface without wearing spacesuits, following the signing of the agreement between the two governments.

According to Bloomberg, the United States launches more than 100 rockets annually, China launches dozens of rockets each year, and Japan’s success rate in space travel remains in the single digits.

In December last year, Japan’s first commercial rocket was launched from the first private launch pad, but the second launch was declared a failure.

This article Toyota is committed to future mobility innovation, investing in the rocket startup Interstellar, and the AI city will be inhabited by the first batch of residents, which first appeared in Chain News ABMedia.