John Deere unveils autonomous tractor technology at CES 2022

John Deere 8R autonomous tractor

John Deere has unveiled a fully-autonomous tractor said to be ready for large-scale production. The system is based on an 8R tractor, with a TruSet-enabled chisel plow, GPS guidance and other advanced technologies.

Presented at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada, the autonomous tractor has six pairs of stereo cameras, enabling a 360-degree obstacle detection and distance calculation.

Camera images are passed through a deep neural network which classifies each image pixel in approximately 100 milliseconds to determine if the machine should stop or continue on its course.

In addition, the autonomous tractor also continuously checks its position relative to a geofence, ensuring operation within specific boundaries. The system is accurate to within less than an inch.

Upon arrival in the field, the tractor needs only to be configured using John Deere Operations Center Mobile to start autonomous operation. From that point on the machine needs no further interaction, while it can be monitored from a mobile device.

John Deere says autonomous operation helps to address skilled labour shortage

John Deere Operations Center Mobile offers access to live video, images, data, and metrics, while also allowing adjustment of speed, depth and other parameters. Operators are automatically notified of any job quality or machine health issues, allowing adjustment to achieve performance optimisation.

The autonomous tractor will be available in late 2022.