As Tesla and Chinese automakers continue making headlines over their artificial intelligence-powered driving assistance advancements (and setbacks), Toyota has been silently working on an AI system that could ultimately be more advanced than anything we’ve been seeing.
On April 22nd, Toyota revealed the Woven City AI Vision Engine, which uses cameras and sensors to process visual data for autonomous driving and power humanoid robots. Basically, the system can collect visual, behavioral, and environmental data to detect risks, make predictions, and take coordinated actions. According to a report from Automotive News, an evaluation on the MVBench Leaderboard confirmed it as the world’s leading vision-language model. True to Toyota’s focus on reliability, the AI Vision Engine will be combined with the Anzen system, which is focused on the safety of driver-assistance systems. Right now, the AI tech analyzes data from vehicle cameras and traffic signals to understand and predict movement-based behavior.
This comes at a time when the rest of the world is rushing to have the most advanced autonomous driving, with automakers like Lucid and Rivian hoping to compete with Waymo and Tesla on the robotaxi front. It shouldn’t be hard to beat Tesla, which is just rolling out its hideous Cybercabs despite its Full Self-Driving mode getting constantly accused of being misleading and dangerous. But what will Toyota’s AI look like?
Toyota’s Woven City could become next autonomous driving hub
Toyota has something called the Woven City in Japan that it envisions as a testing ground for the future of mobility. The goal is to create a “diverse community of people” that will co-create and develop mobility-focused products and services. This makes it the perfect location to test Toyota’s AI software-defined vehicles. As of April 22nd, four more inventors joined the community, bringing the total to 24.
“We have a place here where we can test this technology in a more fulsome way in a controlled environment,” said John Absmeier, Woven by Toyota’s Chief Technical Officer.
This fits right into Toyota’s MO. The carmaker is known for its reliability, and that’s partially due to its meticulous testing before implementation. With Woven City, Toyota can test these “advanced techniques” that are “not in mass production” right now, according to Absmeier. Woven City would create a controlled environment for ongoing testing of this advanced, constantly evolving technology. Senior Vince President at Woven, Daisuke Toyoda, added that Woven City fosters a culture of risk-taking and experimentation. It seems that having this kind of controlled, innovative community environment would give Toyota the upper hand, whereas most automakers in the United States and elsewhere have to test autonomous driving in existing cities, which brings restrictions, challenges, and setbacks.
