Toyota unveiled to the media on Saturday the first phase area of its Woven City, a demonstration city being built in central Japan to test advanced mobility technologies. The demonstration city in Susono, Shizuoka Prefecture, includes roads dedicated to automated mobility on the ground and "logistics streets," or underpasses to conduct experiments on the automation of logistics services. "From this place, I hope that future mobility will emerge," Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda said at a ceremony to mark the completion of the first phase building of Woven City. The first phase area covers 47,000 square meters. Eight of the 14 buildings completed last year are residential buildings, surrounded by an exchange center for inventors and residents, an energy building and others.

The world's first'city of the future' is nearly ready to welcome its first residents. Developed by car maker Toyota, 'Woven City' sits at the base of Mount Fuji in Japan and features at least 11 'smart' homes powered by hydrogen, AI and other technologies. CEO Akio Toyoda said the 10 billion utopia would serve as a'lab' for innovators to develop the technologies of tomorrow. The city is poised to welcome its first 100 residents, which will be employees, this fall, who will live there for free -- though they'll need to already be Toyota employees and work on developing experimental tech for the company. The program will then expand to 2,200 more people, who will include innovators and their families, parents and pets.

Toyota Motor plans to move in the first 100 residents of a futuristic city at the base of Mount Fuji in Japan by as soon as this fall. The initial residents of Woven City will be composed mostly of the carmaker's own employees and their families, and will gradually expand to about 2,000 residents as part of its initial phases, Toyota said Monday. "This year, residents will begin moving in as we slowly bring Woven City to life," Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda said at a news conference at CES in Las Vegas. "We aim to accelerate the pace at which new technologies can be tested and developed at Woven City." Toyoda debuted plans for the "living laboratory" five years ago as Toyota's then-president, saying then it would be a fully sustainable city and real-world showcase for artificial intelligence, advanced robotics, self-driving cars and smart homes.

In this photo illustration Facebook logo can be seen, Kolkata, India, 28 February, 2020. Facebook ... [ ] Inc on Thursday announced its decision to cancel its annual developer conference due to Coronavirus outbreak according a news media report. Some crisis situations are caused by what people say or do. On occasion, a crisis--or an embarrassing incident--is caused by technology. The New York Times reported yesterday that, "Facebook users who recently watched a video from a British tabloid featuring Black men saw an automated prompt from the social network that asked if they would like to'keep seeing videos about Primates', causing the company to investigate and disable the artificial intelligence-powered feature that pushed the message. "This was clearly an unacceptable error and we disabled the entire topic recommendation feature as soon as we realized this was happening so we could investigate the cause and prevent this from happening again," Facebook spokeswoman Dani Lever said in a statement to USA Today. "As we have said, while we have made improvements to our AI, we know it's not perfect and we have more progress to make," she said. "We apologize to anyone who may have seen these offensive recommendations." This is not the first time that advanced technology has created an embarrassing situation for an organization. The Washington Post reported yesterday that "a judge ruled that Apple will have to continue fighting a lawsuit brought by users in federal court in California, alleging that the company's voice assistant Siri has improperly recorded private conversations." Last week at the Paralympics in Tokyo, Toyota self-driving pods injured a pedestrian. Reuters reported that, "In a YouTube video, Toyota Chief Executive Akio Toyoda apologized for the incident and said he offered to meet the person but was unable to do so.

Toyota has apologised for the "overconfidence" of a self-driving bus after it ran over a Paralympic judoka in the athletes' village and said it would temporarily suspend the service. The Japanese athlete, Aramitsu Kitazono, will be unable to compete in his 81kg category this weekend after being left with cuts and bruises following the impact with the "e-Palette" vehicle. His injuries prompted a personal intervention from the president of Toyota, Akio Toyoda. As part of its sponsorship of Tokyo 2020, Toyota has been showcasing its autonomous vehicles via a shuttle service, which has been running around the clock in the athletes' village. On Thursday, however, one of the buses pulled away from a T-junction and drove through a pedestrian crossing while Kitazono, a visually impaired athlete, was walking across.

The coronavirus crisis has prompted Japan to ease regulations on remote medical treatment, creating an opening for tech companies and offering a glimpse of the future of health care in the world's most rapidly aging society. As coronavirus cases spiked in April, Japan temporarily eased restrictions on remote medical care, allowing doctors to conduct first-time visits online or by telephone and expanding the number of illnesses that can be treated remotely. The changes mark a potential shake-up in one of the world's biggest medical markets, which has lagged countries like Australia, China, and the United States in telemedicine. The reforms could also help the nation grapple with both a skyrocketing health care burden and a lack of doctors in rural areas. Previously doctors were only allowed to treat recurring patients remotely, and for a limited number of diseases.

Like the city that hosts the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) there is a lot of noise on the show floor. Sifting through the lights, sounds and people can be an arduous task even for the most experienced CES attendees. Hidden past the North Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC) is a walkway to a tech oasis housed in the Westgate Hotel. This new area hosting SmartCity/IoT innovations is reminiscent of the old Eureka Park complete with folding tables and ballroom carpeting. The fact that such enterprises require their own area separate from the main halls of the LVCC and the startup pavilions of the Sands Hotel is an indication of how urbanization is being redefined by artificial intelligence.

SAN FRANCISCO – Toyota Motor Co. is making a $394 million (¥43.3 billion) investment in Joby Aviation, one of the handful of companies with the seemingly implausible goal of making electric air taxis that shuttle people over gridlocked highways and city streets. Toyota is the lead investor in Joby's $590 million Series C funding, alongside Baillie Gifford and Global Oryx and prior backers Intel Capital, Capricorn Investment Group, JetBlue Technology Ventures, SPARX Group and its own investment arm, Toyota AI Ventures. The deal, for now, makes the Santa Cruz, California-based Joby the best-funded "eVTOL" (electric vertical take-off and landing) startup in a booming category that must overcome significant regulatory hurdles and concerns about passenger safety and noise, bringing the total money it has raised to $720 million. "Air transportation has been a long-term goal for Toyota, and while we continue our work in the automobile business, this agreement sets our sights to the sky," said Toyota President and Chief Executive Officer Akio Toyoda. "As we take up the challenge of air transportation together with Joby, an innovator in the emerging eVTOL space, we tap the potential to revolutionize future transportation and life."

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.

LAS VEGAS – Toyota Motor Corp. said Monday it plans to build a prototype "city of the future" at the base of Mount Fuji, powered by hydrogen fuel cells and functioning as a laboratory for autonomous cars, smart homes, artificial intelligence and other technologies. Toyota unveiled the plan at CES, the big technology industry show. The development, to be built at the site of a factory that is planned to be closed in Shizuoka Prefecture, will be called "Woven City" -- a reference to Toyota's start as a loom manufacturing company -- and will serve as a home to full-time residents and researchers. Toyota did not disclose costs for the project. Executives at many major automakers have talked about how cities of the future could be designed to cut climate-changing emissions from vehicles and buildings, reduce congestion and apply internet technology to everyday life.