Case IH Magnum, or the Rolls Royce of tractors. Although rather Tesla since the model does not require a driver. US farm equipment giant CNH unveiled some autonomous tractors in Phoenix on December 8.
A machine launched at full speed in the middle of a field without a human on board is quite confusing. The Case IH Magnum model is piloted remotely by a farmer. Connected to the CNH app, the operator knows the exact position of his tractor and what he is doing.
In his hands is a tablet with the CNH app that connects directly to the tractor. The system tracks the activities of autonomous and semi-autonomous tractors. From plowing to harvest, the operator can have a global vision of the activities in progress.
Technically, the autonomous tractor was programmed upstream thanks to this app. The machine in question is capable of plowing a field according to the indications given previously. Cameras, radars, GPS, obstacle detectors, everything has also been thought of in the machine.
The farmer enters information about his crops into the app, connects his machines, and the system will analyze the data. For its part, the machine follows the path decided from the application. If you must not pass through certain areas of the field, these are marked in red on the screen.
a few more decades
Another example of an autonomous machine, this time for harvesting. From a tractor, the farmer is followed by the harvesting machine, the New Holland, which has no driver on board. Using infrared sensors, the machine detects its surroundings and goes at the same speed as the tractor, which collects the crop in a bucket placed at the rear.
The CNH is not the only one that is committed to autonomous tractors. The Deere brand presented its in Las Vegas a year ago. Tested since 2019, it is already available for sale, but no price has been announced at the moment.
“At the moment, the tractor cannot be left alone in the middle of the field, at least one person must be near the field,” concedes one of the CNH representatives during the outdoor demonstration. On the prototype side, the tests of the machines continue and these are far from being aimed at all farmers due to their excessively high prices.
still in its infancy, autonomous tractors It will therefore continue to be very marginal in the coming years. Scott Wine himself, the CEO of CNH, admits it, it will still take a few decades for a massive deployment of these machines.
But the CNH group will continue to invest 2.6 billion dollars in research and development for next year.
Source: BFM TV
