Woven by Toyota to accelerate Toyota’s vision for mobility
Woven by Toyota, a mobility technology subsidiary of Toyota Motor Corporation (Toyota), will play a key role in the company’s next generation products and technology, as announced by Koji Sato, Toyota President and CEO at a keynote media briefing last Friday* (7 April).
Toyota’s vision for a mobility society and the “Toyota Mobility Concept” focuses on extending the value of the car, expanding mobility into new realms and integrating it with social systems. In line with this framework Woven by Toyota will help develop next generation cars, including advanced battery electric vehicles (BEVs), and realise a mobility society in which everyone can move freely, happily and comfortably.
“This is a pivotal moment for the industry when software can accelerate our progress towards an advanced mobility society,” said James Kuffner, Woven by Toyota CEO and Representative Director. “Woven by Toyota plays a critical role and our unique software platform will enable Toyota not only to built next generation BEVs but also expand the value of mobility across every aspect of our lives.”
The Arene software platform
Woven by Toyota’s role is to accelerate the Toyota Mobility Concept by developing software to expand vehicle intelligence, and by building and operating Woven City – a test course for mobility that will serve as a living laboratory for trialling ways of connecting people, cars and society.
At the heart of this is Arene, a comprehensive software platform and vehicle operating system that enhances car intelligence and improves both the development and application of mobility software. Arene is targeted for deployment on vehicles from 2025 followed by Toyota’s next generation of BEVs in 2026.
Arene builds on Toyota’s history of hardware excellence to apply the principles of the Toyota Production System to automotive software development, targeting similar gains in quality, reliability and performance. Arene also enables greater software reusability across models and automates key aspects of the development pipeline for greater efficiency. When paired with Toyota’s hardware platforms, Arene will help Toyota to speed up the development of new vehicles, drive down costs and deliver both improved safety and personalised experiences to customers around the world.
Beyond Arene, Woven by Toyota is also driving software innovation across a range of important areas, including leading Toyota’s development of automated driving technologies. This includes next generation Automated Driving and Advanced Driver Assistance Systems, as well as the underlying geospatial intelligence technology that enables safe and reliable decision-making by vehicle systems.
Test Course for a future mobility society
Looking to the future, nothing captures the scale of the efforts of Toyota and Woven by Toyota better than Woven City, a test course for mobility. Woven City’s unique partnership and collaboration brings together Toyota group developers, partner corporations, startups, entrepreneurs and residents of all ages to develop new ideas and inventions that can benefit people in their everyday lives and improve well-being for all. The Phase 1 construction of Woven City will be completed in the summer of 2024, after which preparations will be made for the start of initial trials in 2025.
Strengthened leadership
As Toyota announced in February this year, Kenta Kon continues to serve as Chief Financial Officer of Woven by Toyota and as a Representative Director on the Board of Directors alongside Company CEO and Representative Director James Kuffner. Takanori Azuma and Julie Hamp joined as Directors on the Board, and Koji Kobayashi joined as Audit and Supervisory Board Member on 1 April, 2023. These strong leaders have deep knowledge of Toyota and will be strategic partners advising the Company as it delivers value to Toyota Mobility Concept.
*A video recording of the presentation by Koji Sato and other Toyota top management, with English language interpretation and transcript, is available to view on the Toyota global media website here.
ENDS
About Woven by Toyota
Woven by Toyota is the mobility technology subsidiary of Toyota Motor Corporation. Its mission is to deliver safe, intelligent, human-centred mobility for all. Through our Arene mobility software platform, safety-first automated driving technology and Toyota Woven City – a test course for advanced mobility – it is bringing greater freedom, safety and happiness to people and society.
More information about its work can be found at woven.toyota
