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During a press conference at CES 2022, John Deere introduced a completely autonomous tractor perfect for mass production. The tractor combines Deere’s 8R tractor, GPS guidance system, TruSet-enabled chisel plow and other new innovative technologies. It will be available to farmers later this year.

This autonomous machine has a specific goal- to feed the globe. In 2050, the world population is expected to grow from eight billion to ten billion people. This will further increase the global demand for food by fifty percent.

Farmers must feed a developing population with less available skilled labor and land, as well as deal with many factors that come with farming such as change of weather and climatic conditions, fluctuations in soil quality and the presence of pests and weeds.

All of these factors have a great impact on the farmer’s ability to cultivate during important seasons of the year.

The autonomous tractor appears very similar to a traditional tractor of the series but it features state-of-the-art technology for managing and monitoring the tractor and mounted excavator. The self-driving tractor comes with six stereo cameras that allow for 360-degree distance computation and obstacle identification.

Images collected by the cameras are fed into a deep neural network that categorizes each pixel in roughly a hundred milliseconds and decides whether the tractor should continue to move or stop, depending on the obstacle that is spotted.

The self-driving tractor constantly checks its position to a geofence, ensuring that it is functioning where it is supposed to be. In addition, it should also be within an inch of accuracy.

To operate this tractor, farmers will need to transport the machine to a field and set it up for autonomous operation. Farmers can start the lawn tool by swiping left to right via the John Deere Operations Center Mobile app.

While the tractor is functioning, the farmer can leave the field to do other things while checking the equipment’s status from his mobile device.The John Deere Operations Center Mobile grants farmers access to live videos, photos, data and metrics.

They can also alter the speed, depth and many other specifications. Furthermore, farmers will be alerted remotely if there are any difficulties or machine health issues. This feature will enable them to be able to make adjustments to improve the performance of the tractor.

Presently, the technology for the 8R410 model is available in conjunction with the brand’s chisel plow. This year, a small number of tractors will be made available to customers in North America.

In the coming years, John Deere will endeavor to make the technology available for additional machines and attachments. The launch of the brand is currently not planned because of the current safety restrictions that prohibit the usage of autonomous vehicles.

This technology has sparked a lot of interest, especially in areas where large-scale agriculture is practiced such as Australia, North America, South America and the CIS countries. The shortage of labor in agriculture is another incentive for the development of this type of agricultural machinery.

About John Deere Brand

John Deere is the brand name of Deere & Company. Founded in 1837, the American corporation is a global leader in offering advanced products and services for clients whose job is revolutionizing construction and agriculture- those who harvest, cultivate, enrich, transform and build on the land to suit the world’s growing demand for food, shelter, fuel and infrastructure. John Deere remains one of the best lawn mower brands on the market today.