John Deer’s 8R is fully autonomous

John Deer’s 8R is fully autonomous

9. Januar 2022 0 Von Horst Buchwald

John Deer’s 8R is fully autonomous

New York, 9.1.2022

Agriculture manufacturer John Deere has unveiled a fully autonomous tractor capable of driving in fields without a farmer behind the wheel. The 8R tractor uses cameras and machine learning to maneuver and avoid obstacles.

The system uses six pairs of stereo cameras for obstacle detection, a deep neural network and GPS monitoring to stay within a fenced area. Jahmy Hindman, CTO of Deere, called it „as big as the transition from horse to tractor.“

The system still relies on human workers, who are automatically sent images when it detects something unusual in the area. Farmers are alerted via a smartphone app and can also give commands to the tractor remotely through the app.

John Deere said sales of the tractor could begin this fall. A price has not yet been announced.