Truck & Off-Highway Engineering - August 2022 - 18

Deere advances in-field autonomy
AUTONOMOUS FEATURE
Flag Robotics [in 2021], we also believe that we can lead
in some of this technology in the agricultural space: infield
autonomy, as an example, versus on-highway. There
are monumental challenges that we have, and the technology
that is coming online today - computer vision,
some of these advanced controls for hydraulics and electrification
- can be put to use on a farm field essentially
tomorrow. That's what I think is starting to draw more
startups to the space. It becomes, 'We could commercialize
this product today. Let's go work in this agricultural
space.' For Deere, we're always looking for how do we
partner and work with some new innovative companies
to bring that value to farmers on a global scale.
The autonomous 8R Tractor relies on stereo cameras and computer vision for
360-degree obstacle detection and distance calculation.
Deere's autonomous
tractor has been
trained to deal
with some unique
edge cases, such as
excessive bugs at
night and flocks of
birds in the field.
How will Bear Flags' technology be integrated into
the overall Deere autonomy stack?
We were on the same mission, so that's exciting as we
truly start to collaborate and work together. And
they've taken a little bit different approach to autonomy.
As we revealed at the Consumer Electronics Show,
John Deere's backbone is stereo cameras and computer
vision to become the eyes around the equipment.
Bear Flag has invested in some lidar and radar
technology and become expert in that.
If the human eye cannot see it, neither can a stereo
camera. As we start to go into these different jobs,
you'll see us start to integrate some tech out of Bear
Flag into our autonomy stack. So, we're going forward
with developing one autonomy stack that'll interface
with Deere vehicles, but it'll have a modular approach
where we can add different sensing modalities to that
autonomy stack depending on the job that we're trying
to do, or the machine form we're bolted up to.
their smartphone - it really gets the gears turning quickly around,
'How can I now start to farm differently if I had this technology?'
How do you build trust in the tech as you rollout the
autonomous 8R?
Part of the reason we're approaching this technology rollout differently
with autonomy is it's not available for mass production; it's
available in a limited release. That allows us to open up that conversation
publicly with growers all over not only the U.S. but really the
world. This fall, we will ship units to farmers to use, and we'll partner
with the local John Deere dealers as well to get more eyes on the
equipment, to gain more feedback. Then as we go into 2023 and beyond
there'll be more units available to start to really grow our geographic
footprint for local demonstrations and local feedback.
Do you see more startups pursuing autonomy in agriculture?
Agriculture's just a super exciting place to be. As John Deere and with
our startups that we acquired, Blue River Technology [in 2017] and Bear
18 August 2022
Can you add the components based on terrain
and weather?
Agriculture all around the world is generally a dusty
environment. Some jobs are dustier than others. You'll
see us focus on essentially the initial technology costs
- we chose stereo cameras and that approach with
our GPUs to really manage costs in the initial product.
As we go into a more complex job, you'll see us add
other sensor packages that then will meet that need.
We've had to understand how to work around dust,
and there's going to be some conditions where the
system will not be able to safely see. Early on we'll be
able to automatically detect those kind of blackout
conditions and the equipment will be stopped. In addition,
bugs at night, or [flocks of] birds. Our system,
we've essentially had to train it on what bugs look like,
we've had to train it on what birds look like because it
will stop for a bird flying in front of the tractor. Those
are just some of the unexpected things that we've had
to train on and learn so we can continue to work out in
the field.
TRUCK & OFF-HIGHWAY ENGINEERING
BOTH IMAGES: DEERE
Truck & Off-Highway Engineering - August 2022

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