John Deere introduces its impressive 8-wheel autonomous tractor

Large plantations are going to change their appearance completely in the coming years. A field worked 100% by autonomous robots.

When a reference agricultural brand such as John Deere is firmly committed to autonomous vehicles, tells us that something is changing forever in the sector.

CES 2022 is not just a fair to present computers or appliances. It also has a section for vehicles, and there John Deere has presented a beast that aims to revolutionize agricultural machinery.

Its about 8-wheel autonomous tractor 8R Tractor, which is almost ready to be marketed. It is not a prototype for five years: will go on sale at the end of this year. Here you can see it in action:

John Deere make it clear that is a tractor for large-scale plantations, so we assume it won’t be cheap, although you haven’t disclosed the price.

It is 8 wheel autonomous tractor is equipped with six pairs of stereo cameras, that achieve a complete panoramic view of 360 degrees, in 3D.

They are able to detect any obstacle, and the distance at which it is.

With this data, an artificial intelligence checks if it is a living being, in which case it stops, if it gets too close. It is capable of analyzing each pixel in just 100 milliseconds.

If it is an object, the AI ​​has the ability to maneuver the tractor, and dodge it.

You can also define a geofence (the boundary of the terrain where you work), and the autonomous tractor will never leave that zone, with an accuracy of one inch.

An app that can be installed on a mobile phone or a tablet is used to see the video in real time with what the tractor sees, and also sends statistics and data related to work. This allows the operator to change the route, adjust speed, and other functions.

John Deere makes it clear that it is not a tractor to eliminate jobs, but to help the farmer, for example working at night, or on days of rain or suffocating heat.

As we have commented, it is not a prototype, since It will go on sale at the end of the year.

It seems that autonomous vehicles are going to get to the countryside sooner than to the roads.