Akihabara News (Tokyo) — Toyota’s Woven City, envisioned as a “living laboratory” for full-time residents and researchers who will test and develop smart city technologies, is coming closer to fruition with a number of new collaborations.
Various companies are developing partnerships with Woven Planet Holdings, the subsidiary of Toyota overseeing the development of Woven City, located in Shizuoka Prefecture.
Eneos Corporation, a leading company in the hydrogen business that operates 45 commercial hydrogen refueling stations in the four major metropolitan areas in Japan, announced in May that it has agreed on a new partnership with Woven Planet to explore the utilization and application of hydrogen energy at Woven City.
Through this effort, its aims to help achieve a carbon-neutral society by 2050 as Japan and many other countries around the world have committed.
Isuzu Motors and Hino Motors announced on June 8 an agreement to proceed with talks on the utilization of the Automated Mapping Platform (AMP) developed by Woven Alpha, a group company of Woven Planet.
The AMP is a connected crowdsourced software platform that supports the creation, development, and distribution of high definition maps. The Woven Alpha team plans to develop the AMP to become the most globally comprehensive road and lane network high definition map platform enabling high-precision localization support to automated driving vehicles.
Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation (MFTBC) will collaborate with Woven Alpha to explore safety measures for advanced driver assistance systems with the AMP. Together the companies are conducting both lab-based and field test research for the development and deployment of improved safety functionality.
This collaboration will explore the technical requirements of using the AMP together with MFTBC advanced driver assistance systems as well as the advantages of using the AMP high definition maps over conventional maps. The first proof of concept will focus on the application of the AMP to provide an accurate Entering Curve Speed Warning developed by MFTBC using its heavy-duty Super Great trucks.
Level 5, the self-driving division of Lyft, was acquired by Woven Planet on July 10. It will also be acquiring the former Lyft division’s significant sensing, computing, and software assets, and the Level 5 strategic capabilities in automated driving systems.
Carmera, a US-based spatial Artificial Intelligence company that specializes in developing scalable, next-generation mapping solutions for automated mobility, was acquired by Woven Planet on August 10.
They will join Woven Planet’s AMP team with Carmera’s strengths in map updates and other technologies to complement and help expand upon the high definition mapping platform Woven Planet has already built.
Woven Capital, Woven Planet’s US$800 million global growth-stage investment fund, has also been putting money into other companies to further the developments at Woven City.
Nuro Inc., a leading robotics company providing autonomous delivery, was Woven Capital’s first investment in January. Nuro will be designing and engineering electric self-driving road vehicles to transform local commerce through autonomous delivery for things such as groceries.
Woven Capital invested in Ridecell Inc. on July 17. As a leading platform powering digital transformations and IoT automation for fleet-driven businesses, Ridecell will turn “data overload into automated and efficient business operations” in Woven City.
Woven Planet’s recent collaborations have been in line with its vision of “Mobility to Love, Safety to Live,” with multiple initiatives to make automated transportation safer and more accessible.
Announcements for future partnerships in other fields are expected, as Woven Planet has received 4,700 applications since June for collaborations from areas including agriculture, healthcare, and education.
Woven City is expected to hold a partial public opening in 2024.
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