John Deere, the world’s largest farming implements producer, just unveiled a self-driving tractor to plow America’s acreage by day or night without a driver.
Unveiled at the Consumer Technology Association (CES) convention 2022 in Las Vegas, John Deere have said that the 8R autonomous tractor will enable farmers to till hundreds of acres of soil without ever having to touch the steering wheel.
It’s a technological revolution that’s been creeping up on us all, with the introduction first of lane assist, auto parallel parking, and then of the self-driving modes on various makers like Tesla.
For a tractor, there are no intersections, pedestrians, tall buildings to block GPS signals, traffic, or balls rolling into the road, and so an autonomous vehicle has much less to contend with.
As large and segmented as America’s hinterlands are, farmers often have to plough, cultivate, seed, spray, and harvest many thousands of acres on separate paddocks miles away from each other. With an autonomous tractor, they can plow one field robotically, and another the old-fashioned way, giving farmers more time to do more sensitive work.
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“The driverless tractors are equipped with six pairs of cameras that work like human eyes and can provide a 360-degree image,” AP reports. “When filtered through computer algorithms, the tractor is able to determine where it is in the field and will abruptly stop if there is anything unfamiliar in its path.”
Given changing climatic conditions, the opportunity to double or triple the labor inputs to capitalize on short periods of ideal temperature and moisture can mean thousands of dollars more per acre for farmers.
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John Deere maintains that advanced technology has always been on the farm, and those thought of as some of the most rustic of Americans are actually now capable of wielding some of the richest fruits of technological innovation: commanding a 22-ton tractor to perform a 10-hour plowing job with a touch on a smartphone while he or she spends time with their family is the epitome of that.
The company haven’t released an official price yet, but $500,000 is thought to be a ball park estimate.
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Farming machinery has always been terribly expensive, but half a million dollars? Maybe, but I agree with MarkB, that $500k is probably only an option for factory farming. And as we, and our health, can attest …bigger is not always better.
I agree with the other comments plus I am very concerned by the destructive use of plowing instead of the regenerative planting over former crops. That saves precious top soil, prevents run off when heavy rains come, and encourages deep roots so crops thrive on less water and no fertilizer.