John Deere’s fully autonomous tractor is moving from the conceptual stage into mainstream production and will be available to farmers later this year, the company announced last week at CES 2022 in Las Vegas. 

The autonomous package com­bines Deere’s 8R tractor, TruSet-enabled chisel plow, GPS guidance system and new advanced technologies to enable driverless tillage operations. 

“I think the tractor can do a better job than I can do,” said Doug Nimz, a Blue Earth, Minnesota, farmer who has tested the autonomous technology on his 2,000-acre corn and soybean farm. “It’s going to be a life-changer for me.”

Doing more with less

Autonomous technology will en­­able farmers to meet the...