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> The city will eventually be home to about 2,000 people. More like a small town? A hotel?

by duxup 2y ago

schiffern 2y ago
2,000 people for $10 billion.[1] That's $5 million per person. The future is expensive, but of course the intent is to advance early-stage (ie expensive) technology toward affordability. It sounds like they want to winnow down to the best option among alternate system architectures, so I expect there's a fair bit of infrastructure-level redundancy too. [1] https://apnews.com/article/toyota-city-japan-ai-robotics-eeedfead1830a40688859627829f82e3 https://apnews.com/article/toyota-city-japan-ai-robotics-eee...
- justahuman74 2y ago
  Experiments always cost more than the at-scale product, perhaps they see it scaling down costs later
- cloudbonsai 2y ago
  This "city" is actually more like a Disneyland park, except that their main focus is on to experiment with futuristic commercial ideas/concepts. Here is the list of a few companies that co-invest with Toyota: - Nissin (Instant food company) to "Create and evaluating food environments to inspire new 'food cultures'". - UCC (Japanese coffee maker) to "Explore the potential value of coffee through futuristic cafe experiences". - Daikin Industries (Air conditioner manufacturer) to "Experiment with 'pollen-free spaces'". I don't know exactly what they are trying to test (I guess that they don't know either), but it's meant to be an industrial theme park than a real city with municipal authority.
- Barrin92 2y ago
  >The future is expensive Although upfront cost for city construction is probably negligible compared to the operating cost over the lifespan of the city. If you have even modest labour, infrastructure and service savings every year for decades to come building smarter probably pays off.
robin_reala 2y ago
Smallest official city in the UK is St. Davids, with ~1,750 people: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Davids https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Davids
- frosted-flakes 2y ago
  The UK definition of a city is arbitrary and unrelated to the usual meaning of the word. St Davids is objectively a small town.
  - walthamstow 2y ago
    Indeed. Southend was given city status in 2022 simply because their MP was murdered. Croydon is twice the size of Southend and will probably never become a city.
blackeyeblitzar 2y ago
It’s more like a small scale real life testing ground. Not a city but maybe meant to prove technology and design that can scale to a city. Toyota hasn’t had a great track record with alternative mobility historically - just some quirky experiments - so I’m curious what they’re working on that justified this big investment for this “city”.
minutillo 2y ago
To be fair, 'Daisuke Toyoda, an executive in charge of the project from the automaker’s founding family, stressed it’s not “a smart city.”'.
numpad0 2y ago
Around 35.22N, 138.91E, right between Mishima and Gotenba in Shizuoka. Up to about 700k m^2 or 7500k sqft, max, about twice as big as the Las Vegas Convention Center or Boeing Everett factory. Used to be a smallish car plant next to a Toyota test track. Not at all an unpopulated area. More or less an institute campus? 0: https://maps.app.goo.gl/HYDD2aF6drR7LuvV9 https://maps.app.goo.gl/HYDD2aF6drR7LuvV9

> The city will eventually be home to about 2,000 people. More like a small town? A hotel?

by duxup 2y ago

> The city will eventually be home to about 2,000 people. More like a small town? A hotel?

2,000 people for $10 billion.[1] That's $5 million per person. The future is expensive, but of course the intent is to advance early-stage (ie expensive) technology toward affordability. It sounds like they want to winnow down to the best option among alternate system architectures, so I expect there's a fair bit of infrastructure-level redundancy too. [1] https://apnews.com/article/toyota-city-japan-ai-robotics-eeedfead1830a40688859627829f82e3 https://apnews.com/article/toyota-city-japan-ai-robotics-eee...

justahuman74 2y ago
Experiments always cost more than the at-scale product, perhaps they see it scaling down costs later
cloudbonsai 2y ago
This "city" is actually more like a Disneyland park, except that their main focus is on to experiment with futuristic commercial ideas/concepts. Here is the list of a few companies that co-invest with Toyota: - Nissin (Instant food company) to "Create and evaluating food environments to inspire new 'food cultures'". - UCC (Japanese coffee maker) to "Explore the potential value of coffee through futuristic cafe experiences". - Daikin Industries (Air conditioner manufacturer) to "Experiment with 'pollen-free spaces'". I don't know exactly what they are trying to test (I guess that they don't know either), but it's meant to be an industrial theme park than a real city with municipal authority.
Barrin92 2y ago
>The future is expensive Although upfront cost for city construction is probably negligible compared to the operating cost over the lifespan of the city. If you have even modest labour, infrastructure and service savings every year for decades to come building smarter probably pays off.

robin_reala 2y ago

Smallest official city in the UK is St. Davids, with ~1,750 people: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Davids https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Davids

frosted-flakes 2y ago
The UK definition of a city is arbitrary and unrelated to the usual meaning of the word. St Davids is objectively a small town.
- walthamstow 2y ago
  Indeed. Southend was given city status in 2022 simply because their MP was murdered. Croydon is twice the size of Southend and will probably never become a city.

blackeyeblitzar 2y ago

It’s more like a small scale real life testing ground. Not a city but maybe meant to prove technology and design that can scale to a city. Toyota hasn’t had a great track record with alternative mobility historically - just some quirky experiments - so I’m curious what they’re working on that justified this big investment for this “city”.

minutillo 2y ago

To be fair, 'Daisuke Toyoda, an executive in charge of the project from the automaker’s founding family, stressed it’s not “a smart city.”'.

numpad0 2y ago

Around 35.22N, 138.91E, right between Mishima and Gotenba in Shizuoka. Up to about 700k m^2 or 7500k sqft, max, about twice as big as the Las Vegas Convention Center or Boeing Everett factory. Used to be a smallish car plant next to a Toyota test track. Not at all an unpopulated area. More or less an institute campus? 0: https://maps.app.goo.gl/HYDD2aF6drR7LuvV9 https://maps.app.goo.gl/HYDD2aF6drR7LuvV9