This photo provided by Woven by Toyota shows the square at the center of the apartment complexes of Woven City in Susono city, Shizuoka Prefecture on Feb. 2025. (Woven by Toyota via AP)2025-02-22T11:14:31Z SUSONO, Japan (AP) Woven City near Mount Fuji is where Japanese automaker Toyota plans to test everyday living with robotics, artificial intelligence and autonomous zero-emissions transportation.Daisuke Toyoda, an executive in charge of the project from the automakers founding family, stressed its not a smart city. Were making a test course for mobility so thats a little bit different. Were not a real estate developer, he said Saturday during a tour of the facility, where the first phase of construction was completed.The Associated Press was the first foreign media to get a preview of the $10 billion Woven City. The first phase spans 47,000 square meters (506,000 square feet), roughly the size of about five baseball fields. When completed, it will be 294,000 square meters (3.1 million square feet). Built on the grounds of a shuttered Toyota Motor Corp. auto plant, its meant to be a place where researchers and startups come together to share ideas, according to Toyoda. Ambitious plans for futuristic cities have sputtered or are unfinished, including one proposed by Googles parent company Alphabet in Toronto; Neom in Saudi Arabia; a project near San Francisco, spearheaded by a former Goldman Sachs trader, and Masdar City next to Abu Dhabis airport. Woven Citys construction began in 2021. All the buildings are connected by underground passageways, where autonomous vehicles will scuttle around collecting garbage and making deliveries. No one is living there yet. The first residents will total just 100 people.Called weavers, theyre workers at Toyota and partner companies, including instant noodle maker Nissin and Daikin, which manufactures air-conditioners. Coffee maker UCC was serving hot drinks from an autonomous-drive bus, parked in a square surrounded by still-empty apartment complexes. The citys name honors Toyotas beginnings as a maker of automatic textile looms. Sakichi Toyoda, Daisuke Toyodas great-great-grandfather, just wanted to make life easier for his mother, who toiled on a manual loom. There was little talk of using electric vehicles, an area where Toyota has lagged. While Tesla and Byd emerged as big EV players, Toyota has been pushing hydrogen, the energy of choice in Woven City.Toyota officials acknowledged it doesnt expect to make money from Woven City, at least not for years. Keisuke Konishi, auto analyst at Quick Corporate Valuation Research Center, believes Toyota wants to work on robotic rides to rival Googles Waymo even if it means building an entire complex.Toyota has the money to do all that, he said. ___Yuri Kageyama is on Threads: https://www.threads.net/@yurikageyama YURI KAGEYAMA Kageyama covers Japan news for The Associated Press. Her topics include social issues, the environment, businesses, entertainment and technology. twitter instagram facebook mailto