Autonomous Tractor Technology Has Arrived for Tillage

Autonomous farm machinery is no longer a technology of the future — tasks such as tillage and grain cart operations are now operating nearly on their own.

John Deere has been working toward full autonomy for years. Familiar functions, such as guidance lines, automated turns, and implement guidance, have been the building blocks for the truly driverless tractor. 

Deere’s autonomous upgrades aftermarket kit has moved past the trial stage, with limited commercial availability in 2025 — the first growing season in which farmers are buying and using this technology outside of testing programs. Dozens of units have tilled fields this year, according to Michael Porter, go-to-market manager of large tractors and tillage at John Deere. 

Spring tillage often has farmers operating in tight windows; autonomous tillage can help alleviate labor shortages and allow planting to take place optimally, according to Darcy Cook, senior director of autonomous solutions at PTx Trimble. 

“We have a mixed-fleet solution we are developing around the crop cycle — from the grain cart to tillage — and we’ll have fertilizer spreading and other functions in the future,” Cook said.

Hands-Free Farming

Before a farmer can start with autonomous functions, they first need to verify field boundaries and guidance lines in their farm management information software — John Deere Operations Center or PTx Trimble Ag Software. They then drive their tractors and connected implements into the field. 

For Deere’s system, farmers open Operations Center on their phones, select the field in which they want autonomous tillage done, and create a work plan. There, they set up the type of tillage, direction, heading angle, and how many headland passes they want. Once set up, the farmer accepts the work plan inside the machine. 

“And then, it’s getting out of the machine, using Operation Center Mobile, and swiping to start,” Porter said.

The machine performs safety checks using its vision system, honks the horn to alert anyone nearby, lifts the tool to the starting point, and tills the field. Farmers are free to work elsewhere on their operations, using the mobile app to monitor the tractor’s progress or any obstacle alerts. Thanks to high-visibility headlights, Deere’s system can also operate overnight, preparing fields for planting the following morning. 

Compatibility and Installation

John Deere’s autonomous tractor kit is compatible with mid-model 2022 or newer 8R tractors, or 2022 or newer 9R tractors; all need to be wheel or 4-track RX machines. Tillage implements are compatible as far back as 2017, including Deere’s chisel plow, vertical till, high-speed disk, and coulter chisel models. Depending on the year, tractor and tillage models may require different installation kits. Porter said complete installation for software, cameras, and harnessing typically takes about seven hours. 

A farmer provides their tractor’s serial number and type of tillage tool to their dealer, who then builds out a compatibility kit.

EDITOR’S TAKE:

The concept and research to develop autonomous machines have been around for some time, however, it is truly exciting to now see it scale into actual use. This development will free farmers/ranchers from those hours of demanding and tedious field work, reduce labor costs and help free owners to focus more on managing and building their operation. Such advancements will not totally replace labor needs on the farm, but it will certainly be a step in the right direction.

Simply recognizing the fact that farming continues to evolve and take advantage of technology to increase productivity and efficiency is important for you as a CAD member to understand. You can also point to improvements in the trucks they purchase. Take the AGwagon® for instance. Designed by farmers/ranchers for farmers/ranchers means it is not an ordinary pick up, by any means. Be sure to check out and familiarize yourself with all of the options available on the AGwagon® so you can demonstrate and discuss them with your prospective ag customers.