John Deere Reveals Fully Autonomous Tractor, a Giant Robot Ready to Feed the World

Based on the manufacturer’s 8R tractor model, the vehicle is described as a giant robot ready to feed the world. It is tech-packed, featuring a TruSet-enabled chisel plow, the company’s StarFire GPS guidance system, and six pairs of stereo cameras.

Analyzing the images captured by the cams, the autonomous tractor can avoid obstacles, determining in just 100 milliseconds if the machine can keep going or it has to stop. As explained by John Deere, the vehicle is continuously checking its position relative to a geofence, making sure it goes wherever it is supposed to and is within less than an inch of accuracy.

For farmers to use the self-driving tractor, all they have to do is transport the vehicle to the field and configure it from their phone to operate autonomously, using John Deere’s Operations Center Mobile app. Starting the tractor is only one swipe away, after which farmers can go about their business, focusing on other tasks. The entire time the autonomous 8R is doing its job, farmers can monitor its activity through the app, straight from their mobile devices.

The app gives users access to live video, images, data, and metrics and allows them to adjust parameters such as the tractor’s speed, optimize the machine’s performance, and more. In case of any malfunction, notifications are sent via the app.

There is no word yet on the price of the autonomous agricultural vehicle but considering that a regular John Deere 8R tractor paired with a 2430 chisel plow goes for about $500,000, we can only imagine this thing won’t be exactly budget-friendly.

According to the manufacturer, the autonomous tractor is ready for large-scale production and will be available to farmers in late 2022. Those who want to take a better look at it can see it on display at the CES until January 7 at John Deere’s booth in Central Plaza at the Las Vegas Convention Center (CP-14).