Search Results

Autonomous agricultural vehicles are entering the marketplace, performing jobs that current equipment cannot do or are too dangerous for people to perform. They offer the prospect of greater farm productivity, and they will help to feed the world’s growing population. Commercialization of Autonomous Agricultural Vehicles looks at several topics that impact the commercial success of autonomous agricultural vehicles: Economic benefits Machine utilization rates Job quality Labor savings Reliability Standards and regulations Click here to access the full SAE EDGETM Research Report portfolio.

Agricultural vehicles often drive along the same terrain day after day or year after year. Yet, they still must detect if a moveable object, such as another vehicle or an animal, happens to be on their path or if environmental conditions have caused muddy spots or washouts. Obstacle detection is one of the major missing pieces that can remove humans from highly automated agricultural machines today and enable the autonomous vehicles of the future. Unsettled Topics in Obstacle Detection for Autonomous Agricultural Vehicles examines the challenges of environmental object detection and collision prevention, including air obscurants, holes and soft spots, prior maps, vehicle geometry, standards, and close contact with large objects. Click here to access the full SAE EDGETM Research Report portfolio.

A transformation of agriculture reached commercial reality at the beginning of this century as automated steering of agricultural machine systems increased the productivity and convenience in crop production systems. Following guidance, additional technologies have resulted in increasing optimized machine productivity. Today, integrated worksite solutions through machine and information management continues to transform agriculture. This is the precursor to autonomous worksite solutions that lead to the optimization of the worksite ecosystem. This paper will review the progress from the perspective of the customer value provided by increasing automated systems and the industry execution of autonomous driving technologies and will enable the pathways to autonomous worksites.

There are many unique aspects related to implementing unmanned agricultural vehicles. Automated navigation systems, drive by wire electronics and implement control are already widely available in the marketplace providing a firm foundation for unmanned vehicles. Variable environments, harsh weather conditions, large vehicles and implements and high costs present challenges to bringing unmanned systems to the agriculture marketplace. The lack of existing standards is another limiting factor that calls for a united effort from industry, academia and government. Despite these factors, unmanned vehicles will be part of the future of agriculture, providing increased productivity and helping to meet the world's growing food needs.