Do Farming is Possible with Driverless Tractors?

While farmers are generally ambitious to embrace a self-governing machine that eliminates one of their most time-consuming tasks, there is a wide range of potential issues that must be considered before such machines make their way onto the market. In a round-table session, “Farming with No Tractor Driver, is it Possible?”, four experts discussed the various limitations that must be overcome for driverless tractors to be developed, deployed, and, eventually, adopted worldwide.

It’s Possible if Farmers Can Rely on the Machines?

Let's Discuss With an Example

At a family-owned farm, nursery, and garden center in Le Thillay, France, 18-year-old Antoine Chatelain has taken the lead on bringing robotics into the mix. Chatelain Nursery belongs to Antoine’s father, Laurent, but the younger Chatelain manages the technology. He sees driverless tractors as another means of improving farm work.

“There are tractors already using GPS out in the field, but what we are seeing is that not all tasks can be automated with current technologies,” Chatelain says. “I believe artificial intelligence and other systems can greatly improve what we can do, and I think, in the end, we will only be required to do only part of the job. The other part of the job will be reduced greatly by AI, autonomous tractors, and other vehicles.”

Specifically, Chatelain envisions a future where advancing technologies help enhance decision-making. The farm will never fully drive itself, he says. Instead, the value proposition of AI will continue to be performing intensive, repetitive tasks, creating space for new robotics-related jobs to develop.

If the current generation of agricultural robotics is any indication, the technology needs to be finessed before a driverless tractor becomes a viable option. From Chatelain’s experience, the biggest issue is reliability.

The robot does its job, Do is it really a great success?

“Sometimes the robot works great, and we don’t see any issues with the work,” he says. “The robot does its job, and it is a great success. But at a moment’s notice, the machine can hurt your crops. You may have some issues that can be attributed, in part, to wrong settings being entered or environmental variables that are not in kind with what the robot can do.”

Chatelain says the cost of ownership can also be preventative. Once purchased, however, the systems require little human supervision and are very inexpensive to run. They mentioned “For us, driverless tractors and robots are really about reliability and the trust we can put in those systems,” When it’s possible, the farmer can help create a safe environment by putting barriers and signage around the areas where autonomous machines will be operating.