Meet the Akio-san AI, geeky robotics, software engineers, and the ‘electricity fridge’
Part 2
Last week I expounded on a “history lesson” on Woven City, the reason for this technological hub’s being. For the concluding part of my series, let’s get into the “how” and the “what.”
“Chairman Akio-san, back at CES 2020, you joked that people might look at the Woven City plan and ask, ‘Has this guy lost his mind? Is he the Japanese Willy Wonka?’ Now that we are standing here in the actual ‘Chocolate Factory’ of mobility, do you feel like you’ve finally earned your top hat?”
That was my first question directed to the artificial intelligence (AI) version of Toyota Motor Corp chairman Akio Toyoda.
Toyoda’s AI replied: “Well, I don’t know yet if a top hat would suit me or not. You see, Woven City isn’t the kind of project where you just make an announcement and it’s finished; what we talked about in 2020 has finally reached Phase 1, and residents are starting to move in this year, so we are right in the middle of that ongoing journey. That’s why, rather than putting on a hat to celebrate its completion, it is much more important to have things happen unexpectedly in the course of daily life, and then for everyone to fix those things and make them even better. That cycle is what matters most. In fact, I think it’s just right if people look at it and think, ‘He’s dreaming up something strange again.’ It’s not quite a ‘Chocolate Factory’ yet; it’s a living site where inventions have just begun to move.”
Toyota Motor Philippines first vice president Josephine Villanueva also asked the Akio AI when he would return to the Philippines. “AI-kio,” reflecting Toyoda’s well-known affinity for the country, responded:
“Well, as for exactly when, there’s nothing I can say here right now, but I definitely want to visit the Philippines again. It’s a country I have a truly special attachment to, and when I visited for the 35th anniversary in 2023, I expressed how happy I was to be able to return to that land. In fact, I just mentioned that we held a GR event in the Philippines the day before yesterday; I felt so strongly the passion of everyone there who finds joy through cars. So, if the timing is right, I absolutely want to go back and meet everyone with that same ‘car love.’ My desire to be the ‘best-in-town company’ remains unchanged.”
This interaction took place inside the spacious R&D facility called the Inventor Garage at Woven City, which I explored on April 24. As the “Master Weaver,” Akio-san recently contributed to the development of this AI, which reflects his unique approach to leadership and is designed to empower purpose-driven collaboration across the Toyota Group.
I did notice that “AI-kio” had a dialed-down sense of humor. I recall that, having personally interacted with him several times, as well as watched him online exchanging pleasantries with the press or speaking before a large crowd, that he tended to exchange light banter.
The living laboratory
The Inventor Garage features prototyping and testing areas, co-creation labs, and communal spaces designed to help “weavers” (the city’s residents) and inventors collaborate. Inside, a transformed theater, which is part of the former stamping facility for the TMEJ Higashi-Fuji plant, now bears the sign Kakezan 2026.
In Japanese, Kakezan means “multiplication.” It represents Woven by Toyota’s (WbyT) approach to creating solutions with a greater impact on society. WbyT is the mobility technology subsidiary of Toyota focusing on software-defined vehicles (SDVs), automated driving, and AI.
The structure still carries the legacy of the 53-year-old plant that produced over 7.5 million vehicles, including the iconic Century and the Corolla. Today, it serves a different purpose.
“What you’re going to see here is a culmination of the work WbyT is doing, a lot of AI, robotics, and partnerships,” said WbyT chief technology officer John Absmeier. “It’s about the transformation of a culture into an agile software development future.”
‘Brains’ of future cars
Jean-Francois Campeau, vice president and head of Arene at WbyT, spoke about the paradigm shift toward SDVs. Arene is Toyota’s new software platform—a set of tools and processes for developing the “brains” of future cars.
“I’m Canadian,” Campeau noted. “In the winter, you need a product you can trust to get from A to B. When software breaks after an update, people don’t fear the software is broken; they fear the car is broken. We need to make sure this software improves your experience, not deteriorates it.”
Dushyant Wadivkar, global head of AD/ADAS, further explained that Toyota views automated driving (AD) as a “learning problem.” As such, the company is building a machine-learning stack capable of learning from its millions of cars globally.
Wadivkar highlighted Toyota’s unique “human-centric” edge: The Ultimate Driving Experts (UDEs). These are elite drivers with Jedi-like reflexes and decades of experience, whose data is used to train the AI. “We want future Toyota and Lexus owners to have ultimate peace of mind. When you have a virtual driver who is as smooth and controlled as these elite experts, you feel at ease.”
Robots and ‘electricity fridges’
The garage also showcases physical AI. Robotics expert Tom Stewart demonstrated manipulation stations where robots learn complex real-world tasks through Vision Language Action models. The goal is to deploy these robots throughout Woven City to assist residents with daily needs.
Perhaps the most relatable innovation was the Virtual Power Plant (VPP) explained by Victor Molina. The system uses a fleet of 50 electric vehicles as a “city battery.”
“Think of it like an electricity fridge,” Molina explained. “If you have too much electricity, you store it in the vehicles. When the city needs more, we bring it from the fridge. Users can reserve battery capacity via an app to help service the city’s grid while they are parked.”
From the historic loom machines of Sakichi Toyoda to the “electricity fridges” of today, the Inventor Garage is a testament to Toyota’s Kaizen (continuous improvement) philosophy. It’s a place where the history of manufacturing meets a future defined by software, all while keeping a steady view of the majestic Mt. Fuji.
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