John Deere Rolls Out the Next Generation of Autonomy at CES 2025John Deere Rolls Out the Next Generation of Autonomy at CES 2025

A quartet of new autonomous machines address agricultural, construction, and landscaping markets.

Dan Carney, Senior Editor

January 14, 2025

3 Min Read
A John Deere 9RX autonomous tractor performs fall tillage operations without a driver.
A John Deere 9RX autonomous tractor performs fall tillage operations without a driver.John Deere

At a Glance

  • The American Farm Bureau Federation also estimates there are roughly 2.4 million farm jobs that need to be filled annually.
  • Eighty-eight percent of contractors struggle to find skilled labor.
  • Eighty-six percent of landscaping business owners can’t find labor to fill open positions.

John Deere launched the second generation of its autonomous machines at CES to increase the range of capability beyond its initial offering that debuted three years ago. There is strong demand for autonomous technology because of labor shortage in the industries Deere serves, the company said.

The important difference for the new products is the addition of perception systems that can be retrofitted to those previous models to improve their capabilities. This system uses a camera array and AI to provide better control of the machine.

Mechanical tolerances, vibration, and temperature variations limit the ability of camera systems like those on the first-generation products, so the second-gen camera arrays include more cameras than before. Images from the 16 cameras are processed by Nvidia Orin GPUs. Moths attracted to the tractor’s lights during night operations were one challenge for developers when programming the system, according to the company.

Because these additional cameras provide overlapping coverage, they can be used to check on each other, providing real-time calibration for the image system’s ability to chart objects at a greater distance. The first-generation system’s detection range was 16 meters and the new system extends that 50 percent to 24 meters.

Related:John Deere Turns to Starlink for Autonomous Tractor Connectivity

“Seeing further allows us to run the machines 40 percent faster and pull implements twice as wide as before,” explained Matt Potter, John Deere’s director of robotics and mobility technology in the CES press conference.

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The new autonomous tractors and those that are retrofitted with the autonomy kit will be able to perform all the tractor operations on a farm, which are fall tillage, spring tillage, planting, and grain cart operation. The new tractors designed for working in orchards include lidar as well because of the reduced visibility beneath the tree canopies and the GPS signal interference by the trees.

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The same autonomy kit has also been applied to Deere’s quarry truck, providing quarries the ability to run the autonomous truck to run around the clock without a driver. Most of us don’t spend much time in farm fields or quarries, so Deere’s other product could be the first autonomous model we encounter in real life. That’s the autonomous commercial lawn mower for landscaping companies. Because the mower is smaller, it only needs four pairs of stereo cameras for the otherwise identical autonomy system.

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The four new machines are the Autonomous 9RX Tractor for Large-Scale Agriculture, the Autonomous 5ML Orchard Tractor for Air Blast Spraying, the 460 P-Tier Autonomous Articulated Dump Truck (ADT) for Quarry Operations, and the Autonomous Battery Electric Mower for Commercial Landscaping. The orchard tractor will be diesel-powered at launch, but Deere already has customer-tested a battery-electric orchard tractor that will follow.

Related:Build a Better Automated Farm with the John Deere Operations Center

About the Author

Dan Carney

Senior Editor, Design News

Dan’s coverage of the auto industry over three decades has taken him to the racetracks, automotive engineering centers, vehicle simulators, wind tunnels, and crash-test labs of the world.

A member of the North American Car, Truck, and Utility of the Year jury, Dan also contributes car reviews to Popular Science magazine, serves on the International Engine of the Year jury, and has judged the collegiate Formula SAE competition.

Dan is a winner of the International Motor Press Association's Ken Purdy Award for automotive writing, as well as the National Motorsports Press Association's award for magazine writing and the Washington Automotive Press Association's Golden Quill award.

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He has held a Sports Car Club of America racing license since 1991, is an SCCA National race winner, two-time SCCA Runoffs competitor in Formula F, and an Old Dominion Region Driver of the Year award winner. Co-drove a Ford Focus 1.0-liter EcoBoost to 16 Federation Internationale de l’Automobile-accredited world speed records over distances from just under 1km to over 4,104km at the CERAM test circuit in Mortefontaine, France.

He was also a longtime contributor to the Society of Automotive Engineers' Automotive Engineering International magazine.

He specializes in analyzing technical developments, particularly in the areas of motorsports, efficiency, and safety.

He has been published in The New York Times, NBC News, Motor Trend, Popular Mechanics, The Washington Post, Hagerty, AutoTrader.com, Maxim, RaceCar Engineering, AutoWeek, Virginia Living, and others.

Dan has authored books on the Honda S2000 and Dodge Viper sports cars and contributed automotive content to the consumer finance book, Fight For Your Money.

He is a member and past president of the Washington Automotive Press Association and is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers

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