The fully autonomous tractor already exists, by John Deere and controlled by an app

the Fully independent tractor It already exists and will go on sale later this year. Therefore, 2022 brings to the market an autonomous tractor that will make working in the fields much easier, as well as anticipating population growth projections for 2050, the year in which we will see close to 10 billion people in the world.

By automating farming, those working in the fields can allocate time spent on repetitive operations, improve management and increase yield.

Compared to self-driving cars, making a complete tractor was easier because fields and farmland don’t have to deal with traffic. However, automation in agriculture is a process that started twenty years ago and today it is taking another evolutionary step with this new paradigm.

Redundant equipment includes 6 stereo cameras for 360 degree viewCalculate the distances of displayed objects and discover obstacles. a neural network Processes images and sorts individual pixels every 100 milliseconds by activating Recognize objects in pictures Real-time determination of when the vehicle should stop based on the obstacle rating. GPS and . are integrated geofence So you are allowed Operates within predefined limits, the field for example, is precisely within 1 inch (just over 2.5 cm).

Your smartphone, tablet or computer becomes the control center with John Deere Operations Center Mobile, the app that allows you to access live video, see all data, reports, adjust speed, etc. Notifications when problems occur and when a parameter needs to be manually adjusted or when the tractor encounters an unspecified obstacle that requires the man’s approval to move forward.

The AI ​​system has been trained to recognize different situations, different types of crops and soils: as soon as the parameters are set in the application, the tractor can begin to perform the task assigned to it.

Agriculture is one of the sectors where technological development is very important, and although it remains known only to those who work in this sector, it has made great strides. Just think about automation with locations or precision with which you can sow seeds (optimizing space) and provide plants with needed nutrition with previously inaccessible accuracy, also useful for reducing waste.

In the face of increasingly challenging environmental conditions, from shrinking land available for farming to workforce shortages that have put pressure on the sector, the self-driving tractor is a particularly big advantage, and the escape from rural areas has been a trend that has already started and has been accelerated during the pandemic. To this is added, finally, the increase in the average life of those who remain to work in the fields, and who, with age, decrease their yield due to the inevitable physical and mental fatigue.

The autonomous vehicle does not have to stop due to fatigue, vision is guaranteed in environmental situations where sensors can see beyond obstacles that might stop the human eye (or continue at night) and operations can be programmed to perform steps (often multiple) in fields with utmost accuracy and without error Human.

Finally, logging and reporting are also important: the machine allows you to access all the data saved during use so as to optimize operations for the next harvest.