Toyota is 'exploring rockets' with nearly $45 million investment in Japanese launch startup, chairman says

Toyota's Strategic Moves in Space and Mobility - Toyota is exploring the development and production of orbital rockets, as announced by Chairman Akio Toyoda [1] - The company is investing 7 billion Japanese yen ($44.4 million) into Interstellar Technologies Inc, a Japanese private spaceflight company [2] - Toyota aims to leverage its mass production expertise for rocket production with Interstellar Technologies [4] Competition in the Japanese Launch Market - Toyota is competing with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which has developed the H3 series of rockets for JAXA [5] - Mitsubishi's H3 rocket is intended to compete with SpaceX's Falcon 9 rockets in terms of pricing [5] Woven City Development - Toyota has completed the first phase of Woven City, a prototype city for testing emerging technologies like autonomous vehicles [6] - Woven City is located on a 175-acre site at the base of Mt Fuji in Japan [6] - The mission of Woven City is to serve as a test course and experimental proving ground for future technologies, rather than to generate profit [7]