The search is on for partners who can make full use of Toyota's "living laboratory" to create a future no one has yet imagined. A look at the Woven City Challenge.
Hack the Mobility
Let’s take another look at the Toyota Woven City Challenge page we saw at the top of this article.
The Woven City Challenge’s rather prominent subtitle is “Hack the Mobility.”
Though the word “hack” might typically conjure up images of “hackers” breaking into computer systems to cause harm, it can also mean “to improve through ingenuity,” as in the phrase “life hack.”
This subtitle was suggested by Otsuki. Despite the word’s negative connotations, he explains, “I think it conveys something of the spirit and mindset with which we are approaching this project. We want to attract people who can hack mobility to bring new value into the world.”
Woven City’s mission is to invent “the future fabric of life.”
Daisuke Toyoda, WbyT’s Senior Vice President and the head of the entire Woven City project, hopes that Inventors will use everything the city has to offer and come up with ideas that break free from established ways of thinking.
For the Challenge, the organizers are seeking entries across four themes*, three of which have been set by WbyT. The fourth is an “Open Track” category. As Tanaka recalls, this stemmed from Senior Vice President Toyoda’s advice: “Let’s not get hung up solely on our own vision of how the world should look.”
*Challenge themes:
1. Mobility and City Service Optimization: create mobility and city services that connect diverse urban data with mobility, buildings, stores, logistics, robots, and infrastructure.
2. Safe and Secure Mobility & Cities: build cities where everyone can move freely, safely, and joyfully.
3. Sustainable Planet, Sustainable Life: create a more sustainable way of living and a planet that future generations will be able to appreciate.
4. Open Track: ideas beyond the above themes that explore new ways to achieve “well-being for all.”
In that case, how do the startups view Woven City?
A briefing brimming with potential
In September, WbyT held an information session for the Challenge program. Afterward, we asked attendees to share their impressions.
“I gained a detailed picture of Woven City. It’s incredibly exciting. We’ve never had a place for testing ideas, and being able to run trials here would allow us to show their value in a tangible way.”
“This is certainly a great location for a test course. Listening to the briefing made me feel that it could spark some great innovations for us as well.”
“Since it brings together the essentials of daily life, we can connect the trials to a wide range of scenarios. We also want to explore how Toyota’s assets can be put to use.”
“If selected, we look forward to working hard and co-creating with WbyT. The opportunity to conduct trials together is already valuable in itself.”
“We want Inventors to use everything the city offers to bring better products and services out into the world more quickly,” Otsuki told the assembled hopefuls. “We too will keep improving our services and support to meet your needs.”
Some 40 companies and individuals attended the event. Many hands went up during the Q&A session, reflecting their keen interest.
Taking on the challenge
The Toyota Woven City Challenge ― Hack the Mobility has caught the attention of many startups. To borrow the words on the project’s website, the challenge of bringing the future to life has begun.
Tanaka
I personally know many people who run startups, and they really sacrifice their own and family time for work. They shoulder all kinds of other burdens as well, not only digging into their own pockets but also raising funds from family and friends.
It feels like they live in a slightly different world from the rest of the working population, and I wonder whether we can truly deliver on the commitment they have made.
On the other hand, if we focus too much on delivering, we end up in the position of a service provider. I don’t think a service provider-customer relationship is the right fit.
This relationship is all about building our vision of the future and the world together. We each bring something different to the table: the startups have their cutting-edge ideas and technologies, while we have the city and data. Our relationship is about pooling these strengths and building something together.
I feel this should be a relationship where both sides are on equal footing, with each contributing what they have to build the future.
Otsuki
When we talk of Toyota becoming a mobility company, that “mobility” has an incredibly broad definition. No one knows what kinds of mobility might emerge and bring well-being to all.
Without knowing the correct answer, the only way to ensure that we find the right solution is to try more things.
If it takes ten tries to find one solution, or a hundred, then we need many different people tackling this challenge, not just us, and not just Toyota.
Through such efforts, we may discover what everyone was looking for, the idea that will form the core of our next mobility society.
By speeding up that process, I believe that together we can move closer to fulfilling our purpose of “well-being for all,” and to a better tomorrow.
Information sessions will continue into early October, with entries closing on the 14th. See the links below for more details.