Toyota Experiments With Smart Cities, Hyundai With Air Taxis

Asian carmakers are getting into city-building and flying.

On Monday, Toyota President Akio Toyoda revealed "Woven City," a futuristic city powered by solar panels and hydrogen fuel cells that'll be located at the base of Mt. Fuji. Woven City will serve as a testing ground for Toyota Research Institute, the company's emerging tech lab. Woven City mockups here.

Woven City's periphery will have one lane for high-speed AVs, a second for micromobility and pedestrians, and a third "park-like promenade" for pedestrians only. Self-driving EV shuttles will double as people carriers and food/retail trucks. Underground, bots will deliver packages. Residences will come equipped with robots.

• Timeline: Toyota plans to break ground in 2021. It's already tapped Bjarke Ingels, the Danish architect whose firm designed the upcoming 2 World Trade Center and Google's new HQ, to work on Woven City.

Meanwhile, in the skies

Hyundai revealed a full-scale prototype of its S-A1 air taxi on Monday. If the South Korean automaker can take the S-A1 to production, the four-passenger eVTOL will be integrated into Uber's forthcoming aerial rideshare service (target date: 2023).

• Want more? Here's my interview with Uber Elevate boss Eric Allison.

Big picture: These are exciting concepts, but for now they're just that. Believe it when you see it.