Does autonomous equipment improve the farm’s overall profit picture?
Agco says it has demonstrated exactly that during initial field trials of its Outrun retrofit autonomy kit, which it introduced to the farm media near Salina, Kansas in late June.
“What we’re providing is a kit that takes a tractor and allows it to run autonomously, without a driver,” says Dinen Subramaniam, Agco’s product and marketing manager at PTx Trimble.
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“Our system uses quite a lot of the technology stack that Agco has, everything from guidance, autonomy to computer vision.”
Why it matters: Industry has been promised for years that autonomous equipment would revolutionize farming.
An enclosed system, which bolts to the roof of a tractor cab, houses most of the electronics. It uses both Doppler and Lidar sensors to “see” its environment. There are also a few electronics mounted inside the cab, but the tractor can still be used by an operator.
Subramaniam says initial evaluations of the prototype system tested on various farms in the U.S. Midwest showed greater net profit for producers, even on smaller operations.
“It was affordable for the first year on a 900-acre farm, which is a relatively small farm,” he says. “It had a positive ROI (return on investment).”
Savings come from a variety of factors, from reduced labour costs to allowing the tractor to run slower but longer, which reduces engine load during field operations.
“Some of our testing has shown up to seven or eight per cent fuel efficiency savings from going from 100 per cent engine load to 85,” adds Kevin Jones, senior manager, product management for autonomous operations.
A key feature of Outrun, like all of Agco’s retrofit technologies, is that it will be compatible with a range of makes and models. However, its initial market release, expected in 2025, will be limited to 8R John Deere tractors from 2014 and newer, along with as yet unspecified models of Agco’s own Fendt line. The brand expects to expand the range of compatible models in the future.
“Agco is focused on a retrofit first, mixed-fleet approach,” Subramaniam says. “The retrofit approach is taking a tractor a farmer already has, it could be up to a decade-old tractor, they could take your autonomous kit and put it on to enable the tractor to run autonomously.
“We’ve really decoupled the purchase of a new tractor with the enablement of autonomy.”
Outrun’s first commercial application, to be released in 2025, will be to pull a grain cart. That system, which allows one combine and one grain cart to work together, is in the final development stage.
Work is also progressing on allowing a pair of carts to service a single combine, which is in the earlier development phase. A system of one cart servicing multiple combines isn’t yet in active trials.
“This year … we’re running 10 (single-cart, single-combine) systems,” Subramaniam says. “In alpha this year, we have one combine running with two grain carts.
“This system works without any connectivity needed. It works completely offline. You do need to download some missions. Once you get the field set up, you drive to the field and no longer need any connectivity. Connectivity is still unreliable enough that we just didn’t want to lean on it.”
The combine operator interfaces with the system using a tablet. Equipment mounted on the combine enables communication between machines.
But current R&D on Outrun isn’t limited to grain cart chores. A version that can conduct tillage operations is also under development. It’s in the earlier, first-year, alpha stage.
“In alpha, the main question we’re trying to answer is, is this the right solution to generate value for the farmer,” says Jorge Viramontes, senior manager, product engineering for PTx Trimble. “Our goal is to have a select number of units in the hands of farmers for the fall season.”
“One of the first things we did was we went out to farmers and just observed them through the whole crop cycle,” says Jones. “We documented every job they do. We took that back for analysis. When it comes to autonomous tillage, we looked at what we have to automate to get that person out of the cab. There were 26 high-level jobs we had to create automations for.”
The tillage system requires an operator to make a manual first pass around the field to set the boundaries and determine if there are any new obstructions that the tractor must avoid.
The tillage and grain cart operations don’t require entirely separate systems. Agco’s goal is to have Outrun be capable of handling an entire range of field jobs.
“One of the things I want to highlight is we’re not building different systems for each application,” Viramontes says.
For tillage work, the system’s automation will include bolt-on controls for the implements as well. Those will also be designed to work across different brands. The eventual plan is for Outrun to handle an entire cropping season’s work.
“Agco’s plan is to eventually automate all field operations and have its system compatible with most of the makes and models on market,” Jones says.
“We don’t want to require the farmer to buy a new tractor or new implement. We want to take the technology and insert it onto his current fleet. It opens the door to a huge segment of the industry we can take this technology to now.”
When Agco begins selling the system, there will be a one-time initial purchase cost for the system, installation and operator training. After that, producers will pay for actual hours of use through a subscription.
Owners can choose to buy a block of hours or operate on a pay-as-you-go basis. Only hours where the tractor is actually working autonomously will be billed.
“When we look at the entire crop cycle, we think autonomy will add value to that,” Subramaniam says.
