John Deere unveils autonomous machines at CES

John Deere said its second-generation autonomous machines combine advanced computer vision, artificial intelligence (AI), and cameras, to help the machines navigate their environments.

The new machines are:

• 460 P-Tier autonomous articulated dump truck (ADT)
• Autonomous 9RX tractor for large-scale agriculture, featuring 16 individual cameras arranged in pods to allow a 360-degree view of the field.
• Autonomous battery electric mower for commercial landscaping
• Autonomous 5ML orchard tractor for air blast spraying. A battery electric tractor of comparable size and capacity to the existing diesel 5M/ML is set to follow.

The machines are managed via John Deere Operations Center Mobile, the company’s cloud-based platform.

John Deere’s autonomous articulated dump truck (Image courtesy of John Deere)

It allows users to swipe left to right to start the machines once placed in the appropriate spot.

Through the app, users also have access to live video, images, data and metrics, and the ability to adjust various factors like speed. It will also alert users remotely in the event of any job quality anomalies or machine health issues.

Meanwhile, the second-generation perception system will be available as a retrofit kit for certain existing, autonomy-ready machines.

Jahmy Hindman, chief technology officer at John Deere, said, “Our agriculture, construction, and commercial landscaping customers all have work that must get done at certain times of the day and year, yet there is not enough available and skilled labor to do the work.

“Autonomy can help address this challenge. That’s why we’re extending our technology stack to enable more machines to operate safely and autonomously in unique and complex environments.”