Precision Farming“Autonomy will bring flex­i­bility and produc­tivity to farming”

In the U.S., the model year 2025 8 and 9 Series trac­tors now come “autonomy ready” straight from the factory. What does this mean for customers?

“Autonomy ready” for our model year 2025 8R,8RX,9R,9RX trac­tors means they come from the factory with all of the needed hard­ware to enable autonomy and are plug and play with our autonomous percep­tion system. This makes adopting autonomy easy for customers when they decide its right for their oper­a­tion. The percep­tion system includes: 16 cameras providing a 360-degree view that moni­tors an area 75 feet (about 23 metre) around the tractor and imple­ment.

The system, powered by a neural network, detects obsta­cles such as large rocks or vehi­cles in the field, allowing the tractor to operate inde­pen­dently without anyone in the cab. To use this tech­nology, there must be an autonomy-capable boundary set up in the John Deere Oper­a­tions Center^TM, similar to the auto­mated steering setup. Farmers can monitor the work directly from a mobile device, using live camera feeds to start, stop, and oversee oper­a­tions.

Why is autonomy initially limited to tillage work?

In the US, John Deere offers a port­folio of tillage equip­ment. Our first step is perfecting autonomy for tillage tasks, which includes auto­mated depth adjust­ments to suit varying field condi­tions. However, we’re not stop­ping there. Our roadmap aims to expand autonomy to cover the entire produc­tion cycle, including planting, spraying, and harvesting. By 2030, our goal is a fully autonomous system for corn and soybean produc­tion.

Will autonomy only apply to 8 and 9 Series trac­tors built from 2025 onward?

We plan to offer an upgrade kit to enable autonomy in earlier models, going back to the 2020 model year for the 8R series. And while the focus is currently on the 8 and 9 Series, we will work to expand compat­i­bility to other model lines over time.

Do you antic­i­pate autonomous tech­nology becoming avail­able world­wide?

There is currently no specific time­line for global imple­men­ta­tion, but the great thing about our autonomous system is that 90% of it consists of existing solu­tions. For customers world­wide inter­ested in the future of self-driving machines, they can start today with avail­able prod­ucts: getting familiar with our latest StarFire^TM 7500 receiver, G5 display, and building their capa­bil­i­ties from Auto­Trac^TM to AutoPath^TM and Auto­Trac Turn Automa­tion, as well as mastering the John Deere Oper­a­tions Center.

These are the foun­da­tional steps toward autonomy. When the autonomy package becomes avail­able, they will already know how to operate the system, requiring only the addi­tion of the John Deere Percep­tion System.

How do you expect autonomy to impact produc­tivity and work orga­ni­za­tion on farms?

Autonomy will enable farmers to complete tasks that might other­wise go undone, espe­cially during crit­ical periods such as rainy seasons or harvests. With this solu­tion, they can start work at night, go to bed, and return in the morning to find that extra acres have been completed that other­wise wouldn’t have been finished. Our goal is to provide customers with greater flex­i­bility and increased produc­tivity. While tradi­tional driving will still be an option, farmers can choose when it is more effi­cient to super­vise the tractor remotely. For example, in smaller fields, it may make more sense to operate the machine manu­ally, whereas in larger fields, the autonomous option could prove to be more produc­tive.

Addi­tion­ally, this tech­nology aims to enhance the quality of life for farmers. Farming often requires long hours – some­times up to 18 hours a day during peak seasons. These bene­fits extend beyond large oper­a­tions, helping farms of all sizes maxi­mize produc­tivity and time.

There’re often discus­sions about how autonomy might impact jobs. What’s your perspec­tive on this topic in the context of farming?

Rather than replacing jobs, autonomy is likely to shift certain farm roles toward tech­nology manage­ment. Farmers and workers will still need to move trac­tors between fields, as the machines cannot drive on the road by them­selves.

This presents an oppor­tu­nity for farmers to rethink their work­flows and real­lo­cate labor to higher-value tasks In addi­tion to providing farmers with greater flex­i­bility as employers, autonomy could make farming a more attrac­tive profes­sion. Today, not everyone wants to spend 18 hours a day on a tractor for weeks. For some of the newer gener­a­tions, who are heavily focused on tech­nology, this will present a new way to engage in farming.