At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), John Deere unveiled a suite of autonomous vehicles designed to transform the agricultural, landscaping, and construction industries. The company's latest innovations include an autonomous tractor, a robot lawn mower, a crewless dump truck, and another driverless tractor specifically designed for orchards. According to John Deere, these vehicles will help address labor shortages, improve productivity, and meet the growing demand for food, infrastructure, and housing.

The autonomous tractor, which has been in development for nearly three decades, features 16 cameras and an onboard Nvidia GPU to provide a 360-degree view of the environment. This ensures the tractor's edge AI system can make predictions and plans on the vehicle itself, rather than relying on cloud-based processing. The second-generation tractor is designed for large-scale agricultural operations and can perform a broader set of tasks than its predecessor.

John Deere's autonomous dump truck, nicknamed "Dusty," is designed for construction sites and can carry over 92,000 pounds of materials. The truck operates using the same tech stack as its farming siblings, with the added ability to dynamically change its routing information to navigate around people and other vehicles on narrow roads. The truck can also receive directions from remote operators about location and timing, but it is not remote-controlled, instead making decisions and operating safely on its own.

The company also revealed an autonomous tractor designed specifically for orchards, which uses lidar laser sensors to improve sensing and guidance capabilities due to the dense canopies of trees. This tractor is designed to address the labor shortages faced by nut farmers, particularly in California, where 80% of the world's almond crop is grown. The tractor can spray pesticides, growth regulators, and nutrients to ensure a healthy crop, a task that typically requires workers to drive up and down endless rows of orchards for up to 10 hours a day.

In addition to these vehicles, John Deere showcased an autonomous lawn mower for large-scale commercial landscaping jobs. The all-electric mower features four pairs of stereo cameras to provide a complete 360-degree view around the machine. According to Willy Pell, CEO of John Deere subsidiary Blue River Technology, the tech stack used in these vehicles is particularly well-suited for constrained environments like fields, construction sites, and office parks.

While John Deere did not announce pricing for its autonomous vehicles, past reports suggest that the premium over non-robotic equipment could be significant, potentially as much as 10%. This could be a concern for some farmers, particularly those who have been at odds with John Deere over the company's stance on self-repairs. The Federal Trade Commission is currently investigating whether John Deere used unfair practices related to the repair of its agricultural equipment.

Despite these concerns, John Deere's autonomous vehicles have the potential to revolutionize the agricultural, landscaping, and construction industries. By addressing labor shortages and improving productivity, these vehicles could help meet the growing demand for food, infrastructure, and housing. As the company continues to develop and refine its autonomous technology, it will be interesting to see the impact it has on these industries and the broader economy.