Tesla may be synonymous with semi-autonomous cars on the road, but self-driving tractors are taking over agriculture.
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A new study shows that Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) systems are used on more than 40 percent of all U.S. farm and ranch land for on-farm production. Experts say automakers can learn a lot from automated tractors.
“Before consumers can enjoy the full benefits of autonomy, it must be perfected in more limited situations, such as a fixed route on a farm,” Aaron English, a product marketing manager at Ouster, which builds 3D lidar sensors for use in autonomous vehicles, told Lifewire in an email interview. “Lessons learned from the AI-based software and sensor stacks as part of the overall autonomous system can be applied to consumer vehicles to make them safer as automakers introduce new driver-assist capabilities on the road to fully autonomous vehicles.”
Today’s farmers are expected to keep up with the demands of a growing population in a world where agricultural systems already account for 46 percent of habitable land, Mark Schwager, president of autonomous tractor company Monarch Tractor, said in an email. With expectations to increase output despite the constraints of available land for farming and already tight profit margins, the agriculture industry needs new solutions.
