Farmers Beware, The Driverless Tractor is Coming

"Jcarr" (jcarr) 09/01/2016 at 08:56 • Filed to: None

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Hammerdown > Jcarr 09/01/2016 at 09:07

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It’s a grand and revolutionary idea. The problem currently is the technology of the implements the tractor is pulling. An autonomous tractor is, in theory, only worth the money if it allows you to let it be autonomous while you spend your time elsewhere.

But, if the implement the tractor is pulling has a mechanical issue, no one will be there to see an issue and correct it. Which can cost the farmer productivity at the least, and yield at the most.

I think most farmers will want someone sitting in the cab to manage what’s going on, check for problems, and be able to correct them. The ground isn’t always the same. When I worked on a farm there were many times were I was varying the tractor’s speed, or varying the height of implement, or several other things to do the job better and more efficiently.

Autosteer was a great step because it took out the human variable and allowed farmers to plant every square inch of the field in perfectly stragiht rows. This however, will be a harder sell I think.

The Dummy Gummy > Hammerdown 09/01/2016 at 09:11

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I agree. I don’t see farmers losing jobs if this actually does work. I see them becoming more productive and having higher output.

Demon-Xanth knows how to operate a street. > Jcarr 09/01/2016 at 09:29

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I honestly see the best usage for this type of deal where you would have a row of 1 manned tractor and 2-4 unmanned in a kind of formation where the manned tractor is acting as a manager and effectively working as a very wide tool or in sequence where the manned is operating the primary tool while the following are operating secondary. Like if a plow was being followed by seeders or fertilizers or a combine and a hopper truck arrangement.

Urambo Tauro > Jcarr 09/01/2016 at 09:59

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I wonder if this would actually take longer to catch on than autonomous cars. The manufacturer would have to generate a lot of sales to justify the development in the first place.

They need their customers to trust the technology. Once released, autonomous cars will fall under heavy scrutiny. It won’t take long for users to start discovering their limitations, and for those discoveries to reach the public eye (see Tesla owners testing their limits). It seems to me that while the same thing could happen with these tractors, it would be a much longer process.

In this way, automating tractors could be a riskier financial gamble for manufacturers than autonomous cars. And tractor crashes aren’t a common enough occurrence to persuade farmers that we need to get away from having human operators.

JawzX2, Boost Addict. 1.6t, 2.7tt, 4.2t > Jcarr 09/01/2016 at 10:04

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*this* is the right application for autonomous vehicle technologies.

JawzX2, Boost Addict. 1.6t, 2.7tt, 4.2t > Hammerdown 09/01/2016 at 10:19

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more and more tractors have auto-throttle, active torque-vectoring and draft-control systems (Ferguson -on the Ford 9N- invented Draft control in what, 1939?) that already remove the need for driver control of ground speed, implement depth, and terrain compensation. In large production farms that have modern equipment the driver is *already* really only there to handle exceptions and operate the tractor on roadways. If the machines are providing feedback from these systems they are probably capable of determining when an implement is not operating correctly via load variations, or, as they become more integrated, possibly sensors on the implements themselves.

I know very few farmers who would balk at the idea of only having to go out to the field if the tractor texted them to say something was wrong. Most would JUMP at the opportunity to have full automation of field work. Especially dairy farmers, they could spend more time with the animals and on facilities maintenance, which is, in my experience, what most of them like about the job in the first place.

Future next gen S2000 owner > Urambo Tauro 09/01/2016 at 10:24

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I think you are looking at this the wrong way. A field that a farmer utilizes has far less variables than a city street. The room for error is greater. The damage done by the tractor being off by ten feet is significantly less than a car being off by ten feet. Plus tractors generally operate on private land, the public won’t care about liability or crashes since their is little to no public danger.

Most of the necessary software is already available and fitting the next generation with electric steering and controls is already well underway, excavators have been using electric joystick controls for years. I believe they already have GPS guided tractors, that is how those rows are so damn straight and uniform.

I think tractor would be the first place to start with automated vehicles, not the last.

Urambo Tauro > Future next gen S2000 owner 09/01/2016 at 10:36

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From a practical standpoint, you’re on the right track. That margin of error makes it appropriate to start with tractors before using the technology on roadways.

But I’m having a hard time seeing this as a good business model. It’s not just about being able to trust the technology; that’s just a matter of time and development. There also needs to be enough incentive for farmers to be willing to pay a premium for this stuff. The biggest selling point for autonomous cars is not convenience; it’s safety. And tractor crashes are nowhere near as common as car crashes to use that as a method to entice buyers.

Future next gen S2000 owner > Urambo Tauro 09/01/2016 at 11:02

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The business case for farmers would be easy, I would think. This equipment is already extremely high - deep into the 6 figure range. Plus this is a business expense so some of the cost can be written off. By automating their tractor, it frees them up to work on something else. So instead of plowing a field all day, they can repair a barn or fix an older, non automated tractor so he can get two fields done in one day instead of one.

I don’t think the time and development is as high of a hurdle as you do. From my view point, it is sitting down, using google earth to plot out the boundaries of a field and laying out what the tractor is to do.

Chuck 2(O=[][]=O)2 > Jcarr 09/01/2016 at 11:30

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Farmers beware? Are they going to fire themselves?

There’s plenty of work to be done around a farm, so no one will be put out of work. Also, for a good portion of farmers, these machines will not be on their fields until they are the 2nd or 3rd owners. If anything, these machines will make farming more efficient.

Urambo Tauro > Future next gen S2000 owner 09/01/2016 at 11:45

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Good points. I’d have to be much more familiar with the equipment costs and farmer budgets to comment further on that aspect. I still don’t have a clear idea of how costly fully-autonomous cars will end up being, compared to what we have now.

Urambo Tauro > JawzX2, Boost Addict. 1.6t, 2.7tt, 4.2t 09/01/2016 at 12:01

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I think you’re onto something there, with putting sensors on the implements. It would be important to be able to receive text warnings in regards to the implements, too, or else an entire field (or the equipment itself) could be affected by dragging a broken implement all over the place.

A human driver would be able to respond immediately to a loud noise or an increase in necessary throttle to keep moving.

Pickup_man > Urambo Tauro 09/01/2016 at 12:09

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I think it will be the complete opposite actually. Tractors are already automated to the hilt, you can program them to change seeding rates, types of seed, types of sprays, amounts of spray etc. etc. etc. on the fly based on GPS location. Tractors are already equipped with auto-steer, guiding the tractor down a predetermined path, based on GPS, the only thing the farmer has to do is turn the tractor and implement around at the end of the field. This is mostly done to make sure the implement doesn’t catch and tear out a fence. This shouldn’t be too hard to solve.

So the technology is pretty much already there, and in heavy use, so most of the development is already done. All that needs to happen is more monitoring of the implements to ensure that they don’t malfunction or run into anything. This gets expensive to the farmer though which I have a feeling is why it isn’t in wider use, yet.

When it comes to autonomous tractors reducing crashes isn’t the goal, it’s increasing production, and precision. I live in South Dakota, know and have many friends who farm, or are directly involved with the Ag industry, autonomous tractors would be a huge benefit. With them all a farmer would have to do is set the machine up and let it do it’s thing while they go off and doing whatever else needs doing.

Hammerdown > JawzX2, Boost Addict. 1.6t, 2.7tt, 4.2t 09/01/2016 at 12:52

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I think you hit the nail on the head with the word “integration.” Implements and tractors will have to work as more of a total system, with, as you said, sensors to monitor the whole works. I absolutely agree that a large scale farmer would love to be able to turn it loose and go work on something else.