Deere & Co is strengthening its bet on autonomous machinery, unveiling new tractors and industrial equipment capable of operating without the need for a human being in the cab.
At the annual Consumer Technology Association’s Consumer Electronic Show trade exhibition in Las Vegas on Monday, Deere — which introduced its first self-driving tractor in 2022 — unveiled a suite of new autonomous products:
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The 9RX tractor for large-scale agriculture, a self-driving unit with 16 cameras arranged in pods to allow a 360-degree view.
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The 5ML orchard tractor for air blast spraying, which uses cameras and light detection and ranging, or LIDAR, to automate spraying among trees with dense canopies.
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The self-driving 460 P-Tier autonomous articulated dump truck for quarry operations.
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The autonomous battery electric mower for commercial landscaping, a self-guided lawn mower that, like the 9RX tractor, is equipped with a camera system providing a 360-degree view.
John Deere unveiled an autonomous tractor in January at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Deere said the unmanned tractor would go into large-scale production this year in Waterloo.
The world’s largest farm equipment maker said in a news release that it is making strides towards automating manual work amid a shortage of skilled workers and high labor costs. In the agricultural sector, the challenge of finding workers to operate tractors has been a persistent issue and has been worsened by the pandemic.
“Our agriculture, construction and commercial landscaping customers all have work that must get done at certain times of the day and year, yet there is not enough available and skilled labor to do the work,” Deere chief technology officer Jahmy Hindman said.
The Moline, Illinois-based company, with plants across Iowa, is using a second generation of its autonomy kit in its new machines. It combines advanced computer vision, AI and cameras to help machines navigate varied terrain.
The company said that in some cases, the autonomy gear can be retrofitted to existing Deere tractors, articulated dump trucks and commercial mowers.
Deere and other equipment makers such as Caterpillar have invested heavily in technology to automate off-highway vehicles such as farm tractors and mining vehicles.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: John Deere debuts new generation of self-guided tractors, machinery