John Deere Aims To Revolutionize Agriculture Through Autonomy

Introduced at the Consumer Electronics Show with nearly 5,000 watching the live stream introduction, John Deere introduces its full autonomy solution for tractors, which will be available to farmers later in 2022. 

“20 years ago, when self driving first made its way to the farm, it was transformational technology. Suddenly, farmers no longer had to focus their attention on steering the machine through the field. Instead, they were able to pay attention to the million and one other things they need to think about on their farm every day,” says Deanna Kovar, product strategy at John Deere. 

Kovar says farmers are presented with a the challenge of a highly dynamic environment, and they are constantly looking for ways to increase their output lower their costs and improve sustainability. Boiled down, she hones in on three large challenges: 

1. Find skilled labor
2. Getting work done when it needs to be done
3. Doing it consistently to maximize crop yields

John Deere is looking to provide solutions to all three in one package—a fully autonomous tractor. You can watch an intro video here. 

“Technology has been and will continue to be the answer to help farmers navigate through challenges like these,” Kovar says. 

Its tractors are outfitted with: 

• Six stereo cameras
• 360 degree obstacle detection
• Trained on 50 million images
• AI and machine learning
• Real time data sharing
• Remote monitoring and management

Farmers can monitor and control machines remotely via the JD Operations Center app on a phone, tablet or computer. They can access the app whether they are in a machine themselves or in their office, or anywhere else. 

Kovar points out that unlike autonomous cars, tractors need to be able to do much than just be a transport shuttle from point A to point B. 

“When tractors are going through the field, they have to follow a very precise path, and doing very specific job,” she says. “An autonomous 8R tractor is one giant robot. Within one inch of accuracy, it is able to perform its job without human intervention.” 

She highlights three benefits to autonomy

1. Timeliness
2. Efficiency
3. Improves the quality of life for farmers

“The road of today’s technology is paved with the technology of the past,” says John Deere’s Chief Technology Officer, Jahmy Hindman. “In 1918 John Deere introduced its first two tractors, and about 100 years later, we have robotic machines used on the farm to feed the world.”

Hindman says artificial intelligence and machine learning are key technologies to John Deere’s vision for the future. In the past five years the company has acquired to Silicon Valley tech startups: Blue River Technology and Bear Flag Robotics. 

Joe Leifer product manager for autonomy at John Deere was on AgriTalk to discuss this introduction in detail: 

This specific autonomy product has been in development for at least three years as the John Deere team has collected the images for its machine learning library. The team highlights the engineering work that went into the final product to deliver consistency and help build trust with farmers to get the job done. 

“We are basically asking the farmer to hand over a task that needs to be done to their high standards of quality. Otherwise it'll impact their crop, and ultimately their livelihood. All of this tech is ultimately intended to earn, and to keep that trust,” says Julian Sanchez, director emerging technology.

Users have access to live video and images via the app. The real-time delivery of performance information is key, John Deere highlights, to building the trust of the system’s performance. 

For example, Willy Pell, senior director of autonomous systems, explains even if the tractor encounters an anomaly and an undetectable object, the team built in safety measures to stop the machine. 

And the company expects the technology to be able to deliver 24-hour operations to farmers. 

One beta tester said this technology is going to be a “life-changer” and help him run his farming business better. 

While the initial introduction of the fully autonomous tractor showed a tillage application, Jorge Heraud, Vice President Automation & Autonomy, John Deere, shares three other examples of how the company is bringing forward new solutions with technologies. He says it’s key to be using the best, most accurate and more real-time data in each. 

First, he shares in planning, John Deere has automated the path of the tractor for very straight, consistent rows. 

“And that’s not all. We also automate the placement of every single seed, so every single seed is raised in exactly the same distance regardless of the speed at which the farmer drives. This allows every single plant to have exactly the space that it needs,” he says. 

The second example is advancements in the spray applications of crop protection products. 

“Throughout the year, it's very important for the farmer to apply its product only where it's needed and then find out farmers do this. We added cameras on sprayers and placed these cameras on the boom so they can tell exactly where each plant is  and apply the product as needed, and only where it's needed. Doing this can save about 80% of the amount product for the farmer,” he says. 

And the third example is with the combine at harvest. 

“We use cameras inside that the combine to tell us the crop conditions and adjust the settings of the combine perfectly so that the harvester is doing the best job it absolutely can.” 

The leaders at John Deere say the road to the future is continuing to be expanded with new technologies on the horizon.