Tractors that steer themselves are nothing new to Minnesota farmer Doug Nimz. But then four years ago, John Deere brought a whole new kind of machine to his 2,000-acre corn and soybean farm. That tractor could not only steer itself but also didn't even need a farmer in the cab to operate it. It turns out the 44,000-pound machine was John Deere's first fully autonomous tractor, and Nimz was one of the first people in the world to try it out. His farm served as a testing ground that allowed John Deere's engineers to make continuous changes and improvements over the last few years. On Tuesday, the rest of the world got to see the finished tractor as the centerpiece of the company's CES 2022 press conference.
John Deere isn't the first agriculture equipment maker to develop an autonomous tractor. But as the world's No. 2 maker of agricultural equipment, it's one of the most notable. Its signature green tractors are ubiquitous across farm country, and the company has won over young fans with its apparel and toy tractor lines. CES 2022 marks John Deere's fourth year at the Las Vegas tech show, an effort by the company to show off the advanced technology in its machines to a new audience. Rather than creating a brand-new machine, the company unveiled equipment that can be added to its popular 8R 410 tractors for full autonomy. Two boxes -- one on the front and the other in the back -- contain a total of 12 stereo cameras and an Nvidia GPU that let a farmer control the machine from a smartphone, starting it with a swipe of a button and watching live video as the machine moves across a field.
Credits:
https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/john-deere-breaks-new-ground-with-self-driving-tractors-you-can-control-from-a-phone/
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