Autonomous tractors are coming to a field near you
Eat my dust, these self-driving tractors could hit a field near you soon Last week CNH Industrial brought along a few of it's newest Batman inspired self-driving tractors to the Farm Progress Show in Boone, Iowa to give the attendees a taste of the future.
Key takeaways
- Last week CNH Industrial brought along a few of it's newest Batman inspired self-driving tractors to the Farm Progress Show in Boone, Iowa to give the attendees a taste of the future.
- The CNH self-driving tractor concept These creations are distant cousins to the Roomba self guided vacuum cleaners that are invading many American homes.
- The red and black concept tractors have a 419 horsepower engine and can reach a maximum speed of 31 mph.
Cite or link to this article
Griffin, M. (2016) 'Autonomous tractors are coming to a field near you', 311 Institute, 6 September. Available at: https://www.311institute.com/the-fields-are-full-of-autonomous-tractors/ (Accessed: 1 October 2026).
Eat my dust, these self-driving tractors could hit a field near you soon
Last week CNH Industrial brought along a few of it's newest Batman inspired self-driving tractors to the Farm Progress Show in Boone, Iowa to give the attendees a taste of the future. And it's highly likely that these beasts will make it into the fields long before the regulators green light self-driving cars for use on the nations highways.
These creations are distant cousins to the Roomba self guided vacuum cleaners that are invading many American homes. Equipped with lidar, multiple cameras, and GPS, these tractors can be controlled with a tablet or from a desktop. They can also work in tandem with other tractors, thanks to a vehicle to vehicle communications network.
These Autonomous Concept Vehicles can be programmed in less than a minute. The farmer needs to put in data such as boundary maps and known immovable objects. Then the farmer plans the tractor’s path and chooses its job from a pre-programmed menu. After that, autonomous tractor is ready to work.
Of course, fields filled with amber waves of grain don’t have obstacles like inebriated pedestrians falling off curbs or other tractors wandering into its path, so its software needs to be less elaborate than the control systems needed to make a fully autonomous car capable of operating on public roads. If the tractor senses an object in its path, it will come to a complete stop and wait for further guidance from the farmer. The self-driving tractors can significantly increase production and allow farmers to be more efficient.
The red and black concept tractors have a 419 horsepower engine and can reach a maximum speed of 31 mph. There was no information available at the fair about how much these wonders costs or when they might become available but self driving tractors make a lot of sense. No more plowing the back forty. Soon, modern farmers will be able to plow arrow straight furrows without any human intervention.
Now if only someone could make these tractors run on battery power instead of diesel fuel, that would be the icing on the cake.
FAQ
Why does this matter?
Eat my dust, these self-driving tractors could hit a field near you soon Last week CNH Industrial brought along a few of it's newest Batman inspired self-driving tractors to the Farm Progress Show in Boone, Iowa to give the attendees a taste of the future.
About the author
Matthew Griffin Founder, 311 Institute
Matthew Griffin is a multi-award winning Futurist and expert in Disruption and Innovation, Geopolitics, Leadership, and Technology, who NASA have described as a "walking encyclopaedia of the future" and a "futurist Polymath."
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Matthew Griffin is a multi-award winning Futurist and expert in Disruption and Innovation, Geopolitics, Leadership, and Technology, who NASA have described as a "walking encyclopaedia of the future" and a "futurist Polymath." 15-time best selling author of the "Codex of the Future" series, Matthew is the Founder and Futurist in Chief of the 311 Institute, a global Futures and Deep Futures advisory firm working with royal households, world leaders, G7, G20, and G77 governments, NGOs, and multi-national mid and mega cap firms to help them explore, shape, and lead the next 50 years of business and society.
An award-winning YouTube creator with over a million followers, with an unrivalled global reach and impact, Matthew is a highly sought-after international keynote speaker, lecturer, and mentor who collaborates with global leaders through the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) and United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to shape pivotal initiatives such as the UN’s AI for Humanity program, the United Nations Conference of the Parties (UN COP), and the World Economic Forum in Davos.
As the former Global Head of Cloud, National Security, and Enterprise Sales for companies including Atos, Dell-EMC, and IBM, Matthew has a proven track record of building multi-billion dollar business units and turning failing divisions into market leaders. His ability to identify, analyse, and communicate the implications of hundreds of emerging technologies and trends is unparalleled, and his insights are trusted by many of the world’s most respected organisations, including ABB, Accenture, Adidas, AON, ARM, BCG, Centrica, Citi, Coca-Cola, Dentons, Deloitte, Dow Jones, EY, Google, KPMG, Lego, Legal & General, LinkedIn, Microsoft, PepsiCo, Qualcomm, RWE, Samsung, Siemens AG and Siemens Energy, T-Mobile, UBS, VISA, Walmart, Workday, Worldpay and many others.
Regularly featured in the global media including the AP, BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, Discovery, Forbes, Khaleej Times, Telegraph, TIME, ViacomCBS, WIRED, and the WSJ, Matthews mission is to help organisations create a fair and sustainable future whose benefits are shared by everyone irrespective of their ability, background, or circumstances.
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Sources and further reading
- Homepage cnhindustrial.com
Source: first published by the 311 Institute on 6 September 2016. Cite as: Griffin, M. (2016). Autonomous tractors are coming to a field near you. 311 Institute. https://www.311institute.com/the-fields-are-full-of-autonomous-tractors/
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