At the Consumer Electronics Show in 2020, Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda pledged to build a city of the future, where researchers and engineers could live and work together. Six months ago, after spending an estimated $10 billion to transform a disused factory into what they call Woven City, the first residents moved in.
Their mission? To create a 'society with zero accidents'—an ambitious goal given Toyota’s vast existing fleet of vehicles on roads worldwide. But achieving this will require more than just advanced technology; it means deploying an array of cameras and sensors to monitor every corner of their urban utopia, from the main streets to the small coffee shop.
While the idea of a safer future is tempting, the sheer number of eyes watching us could be unsettling. Can we trust that our privacy will be respected in such a meticulously observed environment? Only time—and Toyota—will tell.
The future, as they envision it, seems both promising and concerning. Will Woven City become a model for smarter cities, or is it just another step toward an increasingly surveilled world?
