> EXPLAINER: SELF-DRIVING TRACTORS
Google has received tons of gushy press for its bubble-shaped self-driving car, although it’s still years from the showroom floor. But for years, John Deere has been selling tractors that practically drive themselves for use on farms, where there are few pesky pedestrians or government rules to get in the way.
For a glimpse of the future, meet Jason Poole, a 34-year-old crop consultant from Kansas. After a long day of meetings, he was still able to run his John Deere tractor until 2 a.m., thanks to technology that left most of the driving to a computer.
The land is hilly on Poole’s family farm, so he drives the first curved row manually and handles the turns himself to teach the layout to his tractor’s guidance system. But after that, he takes his hands off the steering wheel and allows the tractor to finish.
“We kind of laugh when we see news stories about self-driving cars, because we’ve had that for years,” Poole said.
The advancements being rolled out on the farm could soon show up next door: Your neighbour can already replace his lawn mower with the John Deere equivalent of a Roomba robotic vacuum for his yard.
The self-driving technology being sold by John Deere and some of its competitors is less technically complex than the fully driverless cars that big tech companies and car manufacturers are working on. For now, the tractors are still supposed to have a driver behind the wheel — even if they never touch it.
They’ve already started to transform farming: John Deere is selling auto-steering and other self-guidance tech in more than 100 countries, said Cory Reed, vice-president of the company’s Intelli- gent Solutions Group.
“John Deere is the largest operator of autonomous vehicles,” said Catherine Sandoval, a California public utilities commissioner, at a recent event hosted by the Federal Trade Commission.
Some farmers aren’t shy about their enthusiasm for the technology — even uploading videos showing it off online. One appears to show a tractor hauling a planter making a tightly choreographed turn without a driver in the cab. In another, the driver takes pictures, throws paper airplanes and balances a water bottle on his nose before appearing to nod off while the tractor keeps working his field.
The systems come with their own risks, including concerns that they could be hacked. But because farm-equipment makers operate almost exclusively on private land, they’ve been able to bring products to market much more quickly than consumer automakers — and without the same level of regulatory scrutiny.
Self-driving tech is also pushing into other industrial sectors at a pace that outstrips the consumer market. Earlier this year, the first self-driving semitruck licenced to drive on public roads in the United States made its debut in Nevada. Self-driving trucks are being rolled out for mining and oil operations in remote parts of the world.
Still, issues such as digital security fears, along with more traditional physical safety concerns, make it hard for consumer automakers to get their self-driving vehicles past various regulators and on to public roads. But tractor makers have shown that much of the technology needed to fulfil the promise of autonomous vehicles is here.
“All of the things we’re doing on the farm will find their way into the consumer market in the coming years,” Reed said.