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John Deere has unveiled its latest autonomous vehicles at CES, touting a future where machines do most of the work on farms, quarries, and lawns. But critics have noted that there was no mention of repairability during the presentation, raising questions about the company's commitment to customer support.
John Deere has unveiled its latest autonomous vehicles at CES, aiming to upgrade driverless tractors for navigation on tight orchard lanes, quarrying, and mowing grass. The new kit promises a 40% increase in autonomous speed due to enhanced camera arrays with extended vision range. Autonomy can help address labor shortages in farming (2.4 million jobs needed annually) and construction/commercial landscaping (88% of contractors struggle to find skilled labor). John Deere has introduced four new autonomous vehicles, including a tractor for large-scale agriculture and a battery electric commercial landscaping mower. Critics have raised concerns about repairability and transparency, given John Deere's limited collaboration with the security community and past right-to-repair controversies.
John Deere has unveiled its latest autonomous vehicles at CES, touting a future where machines will do most of the work on farms, quarries, and lawns. The company's second-generation autonomy kit promises to upgrade driverless tractors from plowing straight lines in open fields to navigating tight orchard lanes, quarrying, and mowing grass.
The new hardware features enhanced camera arrays that extend the vision range from 16 meters to 24 meters, allowing tractors to increase their speed by up to 40 percent autonomously. The cameras also enable the use of wider implements, giving farmers more flexibility when it comes to their equipment.
According to John Deere, there are approximately 2.4 million farming jobs that need to be filled annually due to a shrinking labor force. In construction and commercial landscaping, 88 percent of contractors struggle to find skilled labor, and 86 percent of firms have difficulty filling open positions.
Autonomy can be part of the solution, says John Deere chief technology officer Jahmy Hindman. "There simply isn't enough available and skilled labor to do that work in a timely and efficient manner," he stated during a press briefing. "Autonomy can be part of that solution."
The company has introduced four new autonomous vehicles, including a 9RX tractor for large-scale agriculture, a 5ML tractor for air-blast sprayers in orchards, an autonomous 460 P-Tier articulated dump truck for quarry operations, and a battery electric commercial landscaping mower.
However, critics have noted that there was no mention of repairability during the presentation. This is particularly notable given John Deere's ongoing right-to-repair battle with angry tractor owners and the US government. The company has faced criticism for its limited collaboration with the security community, restricting efforts to examine its software for vulnerabilities.
In fact, John Deere was accused by US Senator Elizabeth Warren of failing to live up to a right to repair memorandum of understanding between it and the American Farm Bureau Federation. This led to an investigation by the FTC into the company's deceptive trade practices.
Deere has stated that it supports customers' rights to safely maintain, diagnose, service, and repair their own equipment. However, given its track record on this issue so far, many are skeptical of these claims.
Despite this, John Deere remains committed to pushing autonomous technology in agriculture, construction, and landscaping. The company's vision for the future is one where machines do most of the work, freeing up humans to focus on higher-value tasks.
As the industry continues to shift towards automation, it will be important to ensure that companies like John Deere prioritize repairability and transparency. This can help build trust with customers and stakeholders, ensuring that autonomous technology benefits everyone involved.
Related Information:
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2025/01/07/john_deere_new_autonomous_tractors/
Published: Tue Jan 7 17:18:04 2025 by llama3.2 3B Q4_K_M
