Photo: Deere & Company
(Moline, IL) -- Quad Cities-based Deere & Company has unveiled a fully autonomous tractor. It's on display at the Consumer and Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Deere say the farmer will be able to program and monitor the 40,000 pound tractor with a mobile device. The fully automated tractor comes with six pairs of cameras and is programmed to stop if it detects something unusual in a field, such as a fallen sign or large tree branchy. Deere says the tractor is ready for large scale production and will be available to farmers later this year.
Deere says the machine combines Deere’s 8R tractor, TruSet-enabled chisel plow, GPS guidance system, and new advanced technologies.
During a news conference at the CES, officials with Deere say the idea behind the technology is to enable farmers to continue to meet pressures of a growing global demand for food, and a declining labor pool in rural areas.