Will Toyota and Wooden City’s smart traffic lights be the starting point for zero traffic accidents? Smart poles with a variety of sensors – Car Watch
The Wooden City’s Transformation into a Smart Mobility Lab with Promise for U.S. Cities
Nestled in the heart of Japan, the Wooden City—an ambitious project by Toyota known as Toyota Woven City—serves as a cutting-edge laboratory for the future of mobility. More than just a concept, it is an ever-evolving, “eternally unfinished city” that is set to shape how the world envisages urban infrastructure and transportation. With its unique commitment to becoming a “future mobility test course,” Wooden City aspires to lead the global drive toward zero traffic accidents and smart city innovation
Woven by Toyota: Pioneering Future Mobility
The Woodyen City project, spearheaded by Toyota Woven City, a collaboration between Woven by Toyota and Toyota Motor Corporation, is a living experiment in futuristic urban living. Launched with a partial release—Phase 1—the city has garnered attention with its innovative approach to traffic management. Notably, its remarkable traffic light mechanism underscores this momentum.
Announced by former Toyota president, Akio Toyoda, at the 2020 Consumer Electronics Show (CES2020), the project was born from discussions on evaluating vehicle information. This pitch moderated after closing finances at the Higashi Fuji Factory in Susono City, stated, “The original model of the Wooden City was Connected City.” The genesis of Wooden City stems from these conversations leading to its development.
At the 2025 CES, Akio Toyoda, who presided over the Toyota Group, appeared at the CES press conference and presented details about his ambitious and futuristic view for Wooden City as a mobility test course. He coined Wolver City saying, “Woven City is an ever-evolving, an “ever unfinished city” a future mobility test course, essentially defining its role, “an “ever unfinished city.”
Traffic Lights on All corners over the Wooden City and Smart Poles
Woven City is a pioneering laboratory for developing and honing smart city technology. The city’s payment structures boast smart poles serving as versatile nodes, equipped with a plethora of sensors. These smart poles are designed to perform data processing functions, meaning they act as small, local computers rather than being just supporting structures, and are also able to process data in parallel. Staying true to the original architecture of a smart integrated grid design, these poles are crafted with four slide rails to attach various smart-enabled safety equipments and sensors developed by Sankyo Polymer and Nippon Signal. The height and angle adjustments for the traffic lights are key features allowing for an optimal vantage point to be maintained.
Speaking about all recently-supplied smart poles in the city, Words from Jacques Cheabane of Woven by Toyota offering a skeptic perspective, “let’s stretch the lens on back of it: poles that are not just light and traffic detectors, but also network related technologies like communication antennas, Wi-Fi and a computing devices.”
However, these smart poles are not just sophisticated infrastructure units; they are crucial data hubs. If camera surveillance is installed to these poles, picture data can be captured in all directions. This setup is reminiscent of Google Street View, providing a panoramic view of the surrounding environment. In this case, the smart poles feature stakeholders-based Cisco Wi-Fi units, GPS, and other gadgets.
One noteworthy aspect of these all directions capture smart poles is their integration with edge computing principles. Edge computing is a decentralized approach that allows for data processing closer to the data source, reducing latency and improving efficiency. Consequently, this enables rapid decision-making and responsiveness, which is crucial for traffic management and safety measures.
Innovative Infrastructure and Safety Measures
There are hidden perks in ever-changing technological advancements in differentiations within the test beds for innovating traffic management. For instance, the introduction of the “e-Pallet,” an autonomous vehicle announced by Toyota at CES 2018. The paved roads of Wooden City offer specialized subterranean road systems with underground parallel roads that allow for testing of autonomous vehicles. In “high vehicle roads” with pedestrians and the introduction of new sustainable mobilities, special traffic lights are installed to ensure safety and efficiency.
2023 data shows that Motor vehicle accidents in the U.S. alone accounted for 38,824 deaths. We need practical application research, which accessible technologies to create smart city infrastructures and autonomous systems that can flawlessly align towards reducing fatalities in the face of rapid technological advance. Precisely this is what has been demonstrated by Wooden City by its vigorous research. Alongside analyzing and collecting new data.
Future Mobility: Key Cost-Saving Application
Department of Transportation has estimated that the U.S. economy loses billions in related costs due to traffic congestion and accidents. Technologies showed upgrading traffic infrastructure and features can make economies more sustainable. Toyota’s partnership with NTT emphasizes the intersection of mobility, infrastructure, and artificial intelligence to achieve a sustainable future. Wooden City stands as a ground for how a practical ecozone should look like. Helping to demonstrate to the world Woven City’s vision of a sustainable and smart city lifecycle.
Increasing Traffic Safety with Digital Technology
Toyota announced plans to tackle the ambitious goal of achieving a “society free from traffic accidents,” leveraging AI and advanced sensor networks. As a test to reducing concerns about driverless cars, these zero-traffic accident societies need robust infrastructures like ones developed in Woven City. Implementations like the trinity infrastructure-based cooperation that integrates AI technologies with smart urban planning provide a glimpse into the future of urban design.
Expanding the Role of Smart Cities to Improve Urban Living
The ultimate aim for mobility solutions is to reduce automobility and collisions. Woven City’s technologies leverage digital twins and similar technologies like the QZSS (Quasi Zenith Satellite System) and RTK (Real Time Kinematic). By integrating these technologies, cities can achieve pinpoint accuracy in positioning, essential for autonomous vehicle navigation and urban safety
16th paragraph—the story from afar is incomplete, the Woven City project paves the way toward a sustainable urban future. As the city continues to evolve, it serves as a beacon of innovation, showcasing the potential of smart city technologies to enhance urban living and mobility. Through ongoing research and development, Woven City aims to inspire cities worldwide to adopt similar advancements, creating a safer and more efficient urban environment.
This article provides insights for city planners, mobility specialists, and technology enthusiasts to get closer to every initiative to a richer view regarding smart mobility aspects in urban planning and transportation technologies.