Nvidia to Join Toyota's 'Woven City' Technology Verification Project, Expanding Physical AI Collaboration in Japan

Nvidia will participate in part of Toyota's technology demonstration city 'Woven City' project in Susono, Shizuoka. It will provide GPUs and development tools to build AI models for traffic control. Nvidia will also supply next-generation automotive semiconductors and AI software for factory robots to Toyota. The collaboration dates back to 2017, and Toyota already uses Nvidia chips in L2+ autonomous vehicles.

Source: 日经中文网

Toyota's 'Woven City' technology demonstration project will receive support from Nvidia. Nvidia announced it will participate in part of the development of Woven City (Susono City, Shizuoka), which is advanced by Toyota's subsidiary Woven by Toyota.

Nvidia will provide GPUs and development tools to Woven by Toyota to help build AI models needed for the city's traffic control system. The company will also supply Toyota with semiconductors for next-generation vehicles and deliver foundational AI software for operating robots on manufacturing sites. Toyota plans to use these technologies to enhance mobility functions in the city, develop next-generation vehicle models, and improve factory efficiency.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang visited Japan on July 15 and attended an event hosted by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry the following day. He was expected to explain the supply of semiconductors to the policy-based AI enterprise 'Noetra,' which involves SoftBank and others.

In the broader physical AI field, Nvidia also announced expanded collaboration with Japanese companies on the same day. On the software side, the company will broaden the use of its self-developed AI model 'Nemotron' in Japan, with NTT DATA, Hitachi, and AI developer Sakana AI adopting the open-source model to embed into their services. On the hardware side, Nvidia plans to launch two new products in its 'Jetson AGX Thor' line of AI semiconductors for robots. These products are smaller, consume less power, and deliver computing performance close to top-tier models.

The collaboration between Toyota and Nvidia in autonomous driving dates back to 2017, when they announced cooperation on autonomous driving software and semiconductors. Toyota currently uses Nvidia's automotive semiconductors in its 'L2+' (Level 2 Plus) autonomous vehicles.

Amid intensifying global AI competition, countries are racing to secure Nvidia's semiconductors. Huang himself has recently traveled to European and Middle Eastern nations for high-level lobbying to sell the company's chips.