John Deere Thinks Driverless Tractors Are the Answer To Labor Shortages

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Quartz: John Deere is going all in on autonomous tractors. The company, which first introduced a driverless vehicle in 2022, said self-driving machines will revolutionize the field and address labor shortages. It will soon be selling self-driving dump trucks, more driverless tractors, and a robot lawn mower. 'When we talk about autonomy, we mean full autonomy,' Jahmy Hindman, chief technology officer at John Deere, said at CES on Monday, according to The Verge. 'No one's in the machine.'

Hindman said the company wants 'more of our machines to safely run autonomously in these unique and complex environments that our customers work in every day.' John Deere says many farmers in the states currently utilize the first model of its driverless tractor, The Verge reported. 'Those tractors are already being used by farmers to prepare the soil for planting in the next year,' Hindman said. By 2030, the company is hoping to sell a fully self-driving corn and soybean farming system.

Between now and then, John Deere says its articulated dump truck will hit the market. That vehicle can carry more than 92,000 pounds at a time, The Verge reported, and the company says it will improve safety and productivity in sites like quarries. 'It's unsupervised, it's capable of making decisions and operating safely on its own,' Maya Sripadam, senior product manager of John Deere's subsidiary Blue River Technology, said. John Deere also plans to release driverless tractors that can spray nut orchards with pesticides, growth regulators, and nutrients for the trees. It thinks those vehicles will have a particular benefit to the California nut farming industry, which has faced labor shortages. John Deere hasn't said how much the vehicles will cost. Further reading: Software Fees To Make Up 10% of John Deere's Revenues By 2030

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