John Deere and the Autonomous Tractor

Could this be the future of agriculture?

By Laura Kobylecky

John Deere was at #CES2022 to share some of the history and innovations that lead to a fully autonomous tractor.

History of John Deere Innovation

Jahmy Hindman, Chief Technology Officer at John Deere, talked about the history and founding of the company during the press conference. In the 1830s, economic difficulties sent blacksmith John Deere from Vermont to Illinois where the soil was different. The cast-iron plows people used had to be cleaned and adjusted every few feet “because of the sticky Illinois soil.”

Deere created the “first steel plow” to deal with this problem. He focused on “the exact curvature of the tool” to create a steel plow that could be pulled easily by horses. This saved time and labor for farmers and allowed for a more streamlined process.

For the last couple of decades. the John Deere company has been focusing on pushing the envelope even further on advanced agriculture tech. In 1997, Deere began testing their first self-steering machine. The machine uses a “global satellite-based augmentation system to improve positional accuracy.” In 1991, John Deere purchased NavCom in order to “provide our own in house GPS and correction signal technology.”