Deere boosts bet on autonomous tractors with new machines

(Reuters) - Deere & Co strengthened its bet on autonomous machinery by unveiling new tractors and industrial equipment, capable of operating without the need for a human being in the cab, at the CES trade show in Las Vegas on Monday.

The world's largest farm equipment maker is making strides towards automating manual work amid a shortage of skilled workers and high labor costs. In the agricultural sector, the challenge of finding workers to operate tractors has been a persistent issue and has been worsened by the pandemic.

"Our agriculture, construction and commercial landscaping customers all have work that must get done at certain times of the day and year, yet there is not enough available and skilled labor to do the work," Deere chief technology officer Jahmy Hindman said.

The Moline, Illinois-based company revealed the second generation of its autonomy kit, which combines advanced computer vision, AI and cameras to help machines navigate terrains, at CES 2025.

Deere and other equipment makers such as Caterpillar have invested heavily in technology to automate off-highway vehicles such as farm tractors and mining vehicles.

Apart from two autonomous tractors, Deere also revealed a dump truck for quarries and a battery electric commercial landscaping mower - all of them will be equipped with multiple cameras to facilitate full autonomy.

Customers can also equip existing Deere tractors, articulated dump trucks and commercial mowers with autonomy kits, Deere said.

(Reporting by Shivansh Tiwary in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)

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