Public Technologies, a Provider of Public Rideshare and On-Demand Transport, Selected as a Winner in Woven by Toyota's 'Toyota Woven City Challenge'
Public Technologies Inc. has been selected as one of four Winners out of approximately 200 applicants in the 'Toyota Woven City Challenge - Hack the Mobility -' accelerator program hosted by Toyota and Woven by Toyota. The company plans to conduct demonstration tests of 'AI Parliament (AI Councilor)', an app that acts as a proxy in discussions, at Woven City.
📋 Article Processing Timeline
- 📰 Published: May 20, 2026 at 01:00
- 🔍 Collected: May 19, 2026 at 16:31
- 🤖 AI Analyzed: May 20, 2026 at 07:10 (14h 38m after Collected)
Public Technologies Inc. (Headquarters: Chuo-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Yamato Aoki; hereinafter "the Company"), which supports the operational optimization of public ridesharing and on-demand transportation, announces that it has been selected as one of the Winners in the "Toyota Woven City Challenge - Hack the Mobility -" (hereinafter "Toyota Woven City Challenge"). This accelerator program is held at Toyota Woven City (hereinafter "Woven City"), developed by Toyota Motor Corporation (hereinafter "Toyota") and Woven by Toyota, Inc. (hereinafter "WbyT"). The Company plans to conduct demonstration experiments as one of the Inventors in Woven City moving forward.
Woven City is a mobility test track aimed at creating and demonstrating products and services that will become the norm of the future, working towards realizing the "mass production of happiness" envisioned by WbyT and Toyota.
The Toyota Woven City Challenge, in which the Company was selected, is an accelerator program that tests future mobility within Woven City. It was open to applications from startups, research institutions, and other organizations.
During "KAKEZAN 2026," an event hosted by Toyota and WbyT, the final pitch for the Toyota Woven City Challenge was held on April 23, 2026. From approximately 200 applications, the Company was chosen as one of only four Winners.
Companies selected as Winners are provided with benefits including free use of various facilities in Woven City for up to 18 months, product development support worth up to 20 million yen, and 1 million yen in activity support funds. The Company will utilize this support to prepare for its demonstrations.
## About the Proposed Product
The product proposed and selected for this program is the "AI Parliament."
Our daily lives have evolved thanks to inventors of various eras. Yet, while technology advances remarkably, certain things have remained unchanged for millennia. What the Company focused on this time is "how decisions are made."
Currently, the most popular method for deciding things is majority vote, a system that has existed since ancient Greece. It's a convenient and easy method where voting leads to a decision with clear results.
However, in a binary choice of approve/disapprove, the subtle nuances and gradients of individual opinions are lost. The Company believed that all diverse opinions risk being crushed into the rigid framework of A or B.
For example, if the voting ratio is 51 to 49, a decision is made, but 49 percent of the people have neither reached a consensus nor are they satisfied. Were the two options of approve/disapprove even sufficient in the first place? There are many instances where one might feel this way.
To build prosperous cities and a prosperous future, it is essential to create a society where everyone can participate in discussions.
We shouldn't just choose between A or B; we want everyone living in the city to reconsider the choices themselves. Even if one's opinion is not 100% accepted, creating a society where people can understand and be satisfied with "why it was decided that way" requires us to conceive and implement "new ways of making decisions."
However, a major challenge is that people lack the time to carefully engage in every single discussion. That is why we created the application known as the "AI Councilor."
This "AI Councilor" understands the mindset of each user and is capable of profiling their thoughts.
When a notification arrives saying, "We will be discussing this topic," the app itself acts as an "AI Councilor," predicting in advance that "this user would think this way" and putting forth an opinion. Naturally, if the opinion differs from reality, the accuracy improves as the user provides feedback.
For instance, in a city with a population of 1,000, there would be 1,000 AI Councilors. Everything closely related to daily life—from the "introduction of new mobility" to "decision-making in the city's apartment management associations"—becomes a subject for discussion.
While the user is working or doing household chores, their AI Councilor participates in the parliament held within the application. When the user opens the app after finishing their tasks, they can learn things like, "This discussion happened today," "This part of my opinion was accepted," or "This is how compromises were made with differing opinions."
Realizing this idea requires various technologies, but figuring out how to aggregate the massive amount of opinions held by AI, without discarding the minority, and forming a consensus that everyone can be satisfied with will be the most
Woven City is a mobility test track aimed at creating and demonstrating products and services that will become the norm of the future, working towards realizing the "mass production of happiness" envisioned by WbyT and Toyota.
The Toyota Woven City Challenge, in which the Company was selected, is an accelerator program that tests future mobility within Woven City. It was open to applications from startups, research institutions, and other organizations.
During "KAKEZAN 2026," an event hosted by Toyota and WbyT, the final pitch for the Toyota Woven City Challenge was held on April 23, 2026. From approximately 200 applications, the Company was chosen as one of only four Winners.
Companies selected as Winners are provided with benefits including free use of various facilities in Woven City for up to 18 months, product development support worth up to 20 million yen, and 1 million yen in activity support funds. The Company will utilize this support to prepare for its demonstrations.
## About the Proposed Product
The product proposed and selected for this program is the "AI Parliament."
Our daily lives have evolved thanks to inventors of various eras. Yet, while technology advances remarkably, certain things have remained unchanged for millennia. What the Company focused on this time is "how decisions are made."
Currently, the most popular method for deciding things is majority vote, a system that has existed since ancient Greece. It's a convenient and easy method where voting leads to a decision with clear results.
However, in a binary choice of approve/disapprove, the subtle nuances and gradients of individual opinions are lost. The Company believed that all diverse opinions risk being crushed into the rigid framework of A or B.
For example, if the voting ratio is 51 to 49, a decision is made, but 49 percent of the people have neither reached a consensus nor are they satisfied. Were the two options of approve/disapprove even sufficient in the first place? There are many instances where one might feel this way.
To build prosperous cities and a prosperous future, it is essential to create a society where everyone can participate in discussions.
We shouldn't just choose between A or B; we want everyone living in the city to reconsider the choices themselves. Even if one's opinion is not 100% accepted, creating a society where people can understand and be satisfied with "why it was decided that way" requires us to conceive and implement "new ways of making decisions."
However, a major challenge is that people lack the time to carefully engage in every single discussion. That is why we created the application known as the "AI Councilor."
This "AI Councilor" understands the mindset of each user and is capable of profiling their thoughts.
When a notification arrives saying, "We will be discussing this topic," the app itself acts as an "AI Councilor," predicting in advance that "this user would think this way" and putting forth an opinion. Naturally, if the opinion differs from reality, the accuracy improves as the user provides feedback.
For instance, in a city with a population of 1,000, there would be 1,000 AI Councilors. Everything closely related to daily life—from the "introduction of new mobility" to "decision-making in the city's apartment management associations"—becomes a subject for discussion.
While the user is working or doing household chores, their AI Councilor participates in the parliament held within the application. When the user opens the app after finishing their tasks, they can learn things like, "This discussion happened today," "This part of my opinion was accepted," or "This is how compromises were made with differing opinions."
Realizing this idea requires various technologies, but figuring out how to aggregate the massive amount of opinions held by AI, without discarding the minority, and forming a consensus that everyone can be satisfied with will be the most
FAQ
What did Public Technologies propose in the Toyota Woven City Challenge?
Public Technologies proposed the 'AI Parliament (AI Councilor)', an application that profiles individual thinking and participates in discussions on behalf of the user.
What benefits do the Winners of the Toyota Woven City Challenge receive?
Winners receive up to 18 months of free use of Woven City facilities, up to 20 million yen in product development support, and 1 million yen in activity support funds.
What problem does the AI Parliament aim to solve?
It addresses the flaw of simple majority voting (e.g., 51 vs 49) where minority opinions are ignored, allowing busy individuals to participate in discussions through AI to reach a true consensus.