Humans’ natural creativity and desire to make hard work easier has resulted in the development of two extraordinary technologies; automation and robotics. In modern society, advancements in both have accelerated our ability to do work more efficiently with greater precision and safety. And now, sophisticated developments in automation have found their way into the world’s most important vehicle, the tractor.
The maturation of a self-driving tractor is exciting and relatively new, but autonomous tractor technology has been deployed on farms for several decades, hidden in plain sight. As a result, what is meant by driverless tractors and the benefits they bring has led to a certain level of confusion among farmers and the public. The age of autonomous tractors in agriculture and land management has arrived and for farmers, understanding the differences in autonomy is important to maximizing their return on investment in this critical piece of machinery.
Automation is the implementation of technology and processes to perform tasks with minimal human intervention. It involves using machines, computers, and software to execute operations that were previously carried out by people, often resulting in increased efficiency, accuracy, and productivity. Applied to a tractor in farming, automation refers to the ability of the vehicle to operate and perform agricultural tasks independent of a human directly controlling the tractor’s every movement.
Automation in tractors for farms exists on a spectrum with self-driving tractor technology entering the market in 1996 in the form of automatic steering, or autosteer, an advanced driver-assist system (ADAS). Because autosteer requires an operator to remain in the tractor seat, it’s a semi-autonomous feature. Despite this, manufacturers have long labeled autosteer tractors as autonomous tractors. Autosteer is, however, a type of self-driving technology because once activated, the tractor takes over the driving, navigating along a precise path, leaving the operator free to manage the implement while sitting in the driver’s seat. Typically, at the end of each pass, the tractor operator deactivates autosteer, manually makes a U-turn, enters the next row for a new pass and manually reactivates the feature.
ADAS technology has been available in the urban mobility sector for decades, improving safety, operability, and driver comfort. Cruise control, collision warning, anti-lock brakes, blind spot alerts, and lane centering assist — the urban mobility’s variation of a type of autosteer (though not self-driving) — are all examples of ADAS.
With autosteer in agriculture, farmers can perform various tasks such as planting, tilling, fertilizing, and harvesting with unprecedented accuracy that was previously unattainable with even the most experienced of tractor operators. But there’s a catch. Conventional autosteer systems are used in large, expensive diesel tractors on industrial row crop farms, e.g., wheat, soy, and corn. Improving precision and making the job easier for an operator who must navigate hundreds of acres of fields has helped these farms save both time and money.
Specialty farms such as vineyards, orchards, and berries have not had access to the same benefits as their larger, industrial counterparts. Massive tractors are neither affordable nor practical for smaller farms. Given that specialty farms grow the healthiest, most nutrient-dense foods, the inability to access technology that helps keep those farms financially and environmentally viable is having negative repercussions on the global food system.
Monarch Tractor, a U.S.-based tractor manufacturer of the MK-V, the world’s first 100% electric, driver-optional, and smart tractor, is the first to bring autosteer to specialty crops with its Row Follow feature. The significance of this ag technology and what it means for specialty farms cannot be overemphasized.
The operational parameters and value of individual plants in specialty crops are much tighter and more challenging than those in row crops. Agricultural grains – corn, wheat, oats, and soy (technically a legume) – are annuals and planted en masse across large, open fields. In contrast, crops like grapes or fruit from orchards are perennials and planted in rows ranging, on average in the U.S., 8-12 feet for vineyards and 10-14 feet for high-density orchards. Large tractors don’t fit in these rows, only compact tractors can work in these tighter spaces.
Without the advantage of autosteer, a tractor operator must navigate these tight rows during operations with heightened awareness, as the value of an individual mature tree or vine can be worth thousands of dollars. It’s stressful work and demands experience. A tight ag labor market compounds the challenge. Farmers are struggling to fill positions, let alone fill them with skilled tractor operators.
By automatically keeping the MK-V (a 40-70 HP tractor classified as a small tractor) centered in the middle of the row, Row Follow brings several financial and time-saving advantages to a specialty farm including:
Except for Monarch’s Row Follow, all autosteer features to date are integrated into diesel tractors. By successfully putting a Row Follow ADAS into an electric tractor, Monarch is amplifying savings for farmers who, in addition to finally gaining the advantages of having an ADAS feature, are also saving additional time and money by eliminating diesel costs and reducing maintenance-related expenses.
A fully autonomous tractor is an advanced agricultural vehicle that can operate without direct human control, leveraging cutting-edge technologies such as GPS, artificial intelligence (AI), cameras, computer vision, and various sensors. These tractors aim to increase productivity, reduce labor costs, minimize human labor, and allow for much longer operations. Currently, the only fully autonomous-ready tractor on the market is Monarch’s MK-V. And just as Monarch brought semi-autonomous technology to an electric tractor, it has loaded the electric MK-V with fully driverless and smart capabilities.
Fully autonomous tractors are complex machinery. Developing and deploying autonomous tractor technology requires a tailored approach, as specialty farms are intricate systems with unique attributes and requirements. Achieving optimal performance from autonomous systems necessitates thorough and systematic equipment testing under various conditions, including different row spacings, crop varieties, supporting infrastructure, available turning areas in headlands, and landscape features.
Autonomy also plays a role in dairy farms, pushing feed closer to cows, an operation that must be repeated 12-18 times each day. Electric, autonomous machinery to push feed is on the market, but usage is limited to a single operation. By transforming the tractor into an energy, data, and robotics platform, Monarch is giving dairy farmers the benefits of an electric, autonomous feed pusher that can also be used as a traditional tractor, all while collecting data for simplified sustainability reporting. Farmers can optimize their cows' feed schedule to increase yield, without incurring additional diesel and labor costs.
To meet the high standards of performance in safety and precision that farmers depend on for their livelihoods, Monarch is carefully monitoring testing outcomes and gradually introducing driverless capabilities in phases. This methodical approach helps ensure that the technology effectively protects and enhances agricultural productivity. The MK-V’s design incorporates software-enabled hardware, allowing for continuous enhancements through remote over-the-air updates. This feature enables the electric tractor to receive new functionalities and performance improvements without the need for new hardware.
Monarch is continuously developing and expanding the tractor’s capabilities to accommodate various crops and operational conditions. As farmers and land managers wait for more driverless tractor operations to be released for their crop and farm type, they are taking advantage of the many benefits of having an electric tractor that is also smart, gathering operational data for precision decision-making and reporting.
When you take inventory of modern life, you’ll find we’ve been co-existing with automation and robotics for quite some time. Henry Ford implemented the moving assembly line over a century ago, and what was the earliest of the 1950s dishwashers but a robot that automatically cleaned and dried dishes? Tractors with autonomous functionality have been around for decades, but always with a driver in the seat. When it comes to deploying fully driverless machinery, it feels unfamiliar and farmers want to know, “Is it safe?”
For manufacturers, safety is paramount. For starters, the environment in which a driverless vehicle in agriculture operates is inherently safer than that of urban mobility vehicles. Tractors move extremely slow while conducting operations, around 5 mph. And these slow-moving vehicles are in fields; that is, sparsely populated, rather predictable environments. Lane changes, stop lights, numerous pedestrians, cyclists, distracted drivers, stop-and-go traffic — hardly any of the hazards of driving a passenger car exist in a field.
Tractors for farms may not have to address urban traffic patterns, but they still must be engineered for precision to protect crops and infrastructure from potential collision damage. And in the event a person does appear in the driverless tractor’s path, the tractor must know to stop automatically. Monarch’s advanced cameras provide 360-degree situational awareness to protect the operator (who is monitoring tractor activity from afar), surrounding livestock, implements, infrastructure, and crops from collision during driverless operations. Because fully driverless tractors are monitored remotely, an operator still retains control through Monarch’s Wingspan Ag Intelligence (WingspanAI) app even while not actively driving. The WingspanAI platform sends the operator an alert whenever there is a potential issue, who can then can opt to keep the tractor halted or approve it, allowing the tractor to continue on its way.
For self-driving tractors, data gathering and mapping is a crucial part of training a tractor to operate without a driver. The more hours spent driving the tractor, the more data the tractor will have to self-navigate rows and better interpret its environment. As farmers eagerly wait for driverless functions to expand to their crops and farm types, they can be assured that when it does arrive, the technology has been thoroughly and meticulously tested to ensure reliable, high performance.
The continued development of autonomy in tractors is targeting key challenges in modern agriculture, including labor shortages, labor costs, and the need for increased efficiency. Autonomy in an electric tractor solves farmers’ requests to replace herbicides with mowing without the associated carbon emissions and additional labor and diesel costs. As agriculture technology continues to advance, autonomous tractors are playing an increasingly important role in the future of farming. Manufacturers like Monarch Tractor are working diligently to bring fully driverless technology to maturity while safeguarding a farm’s need for long-term safety and profitability.
References:
Amaral-Phillips, Donna M., Hemken Roger W., and Crist, William L. (1997). “More Feed = More Milk.” Cooperative Extension Services, University of Kentucky, College of Agriculture. https://afs.ca.uky.edu/files/more_feed_more_milk.pdf