Toyota Motor Corporation (7203) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Ladies and gentlemen, the Chairman of the Toyota Motor Corporation, Akio Toyoda.

Good afternoon, everyone. And thank you so much for being here today and for bringing so many cameras. I feel like Taylor Swift. But seriously, I'll bet that when you hear the name Toyota, you probably think of words like dependability, value or affordable transportation. In fact, I'm pretty sure that prototype town of the future isn't the first thing that pops into your head. About 5 years ago, on this very stage, in this very room, apparently, I was wearing the same tie, announced that Toyota will be building exactly that, we call it Woven City. Located at the base of beautiful Mount Fuji in Japan, Woven City is more than just a place to live, work and play. Woven City is a place where people can invent and develop all kinds of new products and ideas. It's living laboratory where the residents are willing to -- willing participants. Giving inventors the opportunity to freely test their ideas in a secure real-life setting, a place where we can welcome people and partners from around the world to join us in our quest to imagine and improve how all of us live in the future. Well, today, I'm happy to announce that we have officially completed Phase 1 of our Woven City campus. [Presentation]

This year, residents will begin moving in as we slowly bring Woven City to life. As each phase is complete, our population will eventually grow to around 2,000 people and will include Toyota employees and their families, retired people, retailers, visiting scientists, industry partners, entrepreneurs, academics and of course, their pets. This is mine, her name is Mini and she fit right in because all transportation in Woven City will be low to 0 emission. That's because sustainability is one of our major priorities, and we are proud to have received Japan's first LEED Platinum certification for community, the highest standard awarded. Thank you. We plan to focus on 4 key areas of research and innovation. The mobility of people, goods, information and energy. We think of Woven City as a test course for mobility, where we can develop any number of solutions from personal mobility devices like [indiscernible] car because everybody should experience the joy of going first to [ drone ] that safely escort you home at night, to interact with pet robots that provides support and companionship for elderly, to flying cars like this one, made by our friends at Joby, making the trip from Woven City to Tokyo fast and traffic free, and for partners like Joby, we've even transformed one of our former factory buildings into laboratory big enough to house an airplane. So for any of you inventors are there looking for a really big space to work in, please keep us in mind. Homes in the Woven City will eventually serve as test site for future technologies, such as in-home robotics to assist with daily life. In fact, we are currently developing robots that learn everyday task through cameras-assisted human demonstrations. For example, folding T-shirt is one task we take very seriously in Japan and Asia for that matter, as you can see. So here is one of our team members using handheld cameras to show our robots the Japanese way to fold a T-shirt. And now here's the robot the next day. After studying the data that was sent to it, it's learned overnight how to execute a 3-point fold perfectly. This is just 1 example of the kind of technology we imagine being developed and road-tested at Woven City. Autonomous is another, including autonomous logistics and autonomous transportation with our e-pilot. Now between you and me. As Toyota's master driver, I personally thought autonomous vehicles were a bit boring until our team show me these 2 Toyota race cars that drive autonomously. [Presentation]

I mean, as a kid would say, "That [indiscernible] and I'm totally here for it." So autonomous driving will be among the many technologies we intend to develop at Woven City, including artificial intelligence. Among other things, we hope to use AI to help expand the reach of Woven City, allowing people to virtually interact with the city and its project. They are also trying to make a virtual avatar of me at Woven City, but that's a work in progress. I have to say that from the day we broke ground in 2021, Woven City has been a true labor of love for our team members at Woven by Toyota, an independent company, we created to support this project with 2,200 team members from over 60 different countries around the world. Woven by Toyota's mission is to create human-centric technologies, expanding mobility and well-being for all. This includes a new operating system for cars called Arene, a digital-twin platform, which replicates real-world environment, and Vision AI, which combines video data analysis with artificial intelligence. To better understand the movement behavior of people and objects by utilizing both real and digital environment, we aim to accelerate the pace at which new technologies can be tested and developed at Woven City. Now I know what you are thinking. Will this Woven City make Toyota any money? Well, maybe not. But that's okay. Because as global citizens, I believe Toyota has a responsibility to invest in our collective future to share what we've learned with others and support new ideas that benefit the planet and its people. And that more than anything else is why we created Woven City. It's also why this summer, we are launching a pitch competition for fully funded scholarship to the Woven City for start-ups or individuals who need financial support to bring their ideas to life. We believe that by combining Toyota's strength with those from different industries, we'll be able to create new value, new products and new services we could never achieve on our own. We think of it as invention by kakezan or invention by multiplication. Because when it comes to what's possible when we work together, the sky is the limit. And speaking of the sky, we are exploring rockets too. Because the future of mobility shouldn't be limited to just earth or just one car company for that matter. Toyota, if you didn't know, we will soon be celebrating its 100-year anniversary, not as a car company, but as the inventor of the world's first automatic looms. That's right. We didn't start out by making cars. We began by weaving fabrics. That's why we think of the future residents of Woven City as weavers. Because much like test drives for cars, our residents will be the ones who use and experience new products and services our inventors develop and will play a critical role in putting all the threads together. For me, at its core, Woven City is about collaborations. It's about opportunity to weave together diverse point of view, talent and abilities to create new kind of fabric for our future. A future where we hope not to only move people but move hearts. So today, I said to anyone in any corner of the world, inspire or excited to make a difference, make a change or make it count, please consider this your official invitation to join us at Woven City. Thank you very much.

Thank you all for coming, please exit to the rear.