Toyota plans 175-acre Woven City in Japan as living tech test bed

Toyota will build a 175-acre hydrogen-powered test city beginning next year at the base of Japan's Mount Fuji to study the interactions of a number of cutting-edge technologies, including autonomous transportation, robotics and artificial intelligence. The huge project, called Woven City, is being personally championed by Toyota Motor Corp. CEO Akio Toyoda, who appeared Monday at CES here to discuss the plan. Woven City -- which will be roughly the size of Apple's circular campus in Cupertino, Calif., -- is being designed by renowned Danish architect Bjarke Ingels, CEO of Bjarke Ingels Group and designer of Google's new headquarters, 2 World Trade Center in New York City and a number of other high-profile projects globally. The cost of the project was not revealed, but it is expected to be in the billions of dollars. Toyota says an estimated 2,000 people -- employees and their families, retired couples, retailers, visiting scientists and industry partners -- are expected to inhabit Woven City initially when completed.