Society | Feb 24

Toyota begins construction of smart city near Mount Fuji

Feb 24 (Japan Times) - NAGOYA – Toyota Motor Corp. on Tuesday began construction of a smart city at the foot of Mount Fuji in central Japan as a testing ground for new technologies including robotics and artificial intelligence.

About 360 people including Toyota employees will initially move to the so-called Woven City to be built at the 70.8-hectare former Toyota factory site in Susono, Shizuoka Prefecture. It will be powered by electricity from fuel cells, which derive power from a hydrogen-oxygen reaction, in addition to solar panels.

Toyota describes the city — run with partner companies such as telecommunications giant Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. — as a “living laboratory” where it will test autonomous vehicles, robots and artificial intelligence in a real-world environment.

The automaker has commissioned Danish architect Bjarke Ingels, who designed the 2 World Trade Center in New York City and Google’s headquarters in California, to plan the layout of the city.

Source: ANNnewsCH

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