Case IH Autonomous Concept Tractor Wins GOOD DESIGN Award

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Some advanced technology, such as the Advanced Farming Systems (AFS) AccuTurn autoguidance, will be found in conventional 2018 Case IH tractors. (Photo courtesy of CNH Industrial.)

Case IH’s autonomous concept tractor has been selected for the GOOD DESIGN award. It’s one of the most prestigious accolades around, and the Chicago Athenaeum has been giving out GOOD DESIGN awards since 1950. The high-horsepower tractor is based on the Case IH Magnum series, but the concept tractor has no operator cab. To “see” the surrounding world, the concept tractor features four viewing cameras (two front and two rear), as well as LiDAR (Light Detecting and Ranging) and radar obstacle detection technology.

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Case IH’s autonomous concept tractor is capable of high-horsepower duties around the farm. (Photo courtesy of CNH Industrial.)

Current Lineups To Get Intelligent Features

Case IH introduced the concept tractor in 2016 at the Farm Progress Show. The company already plans on adding some of the intelligent features to its current lineups. Most notably, the Advanced Farm System (AFS) AccuTurn technology will be featured in some 2018 tractors. The auto-guidance technology helps take the guesswork out of turning on headlands, allowing the tractor to automatically complete repeatable turns for improved accuracy.

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Although the concept tractor features a cabless design, Case IH says future models probably will have a cab. (Photo courtesy of CNH Industrial.)

Farmers Stay In Control

Farmers still have plenty of control options with this concept tractor. Monitoring is available through a PC or tablet, so you could supervise the tractor from your office or in the cab of another tractor. From the app or a PC, you can view the program on a map, as well as see the live camera feed. Case IH also indicates you can modify key operating parameters.

One of the things you might not see in upcoming autonomous tractors from Case IH is the cabless design. “From talking to customers in different countries, we see that for the near term, they want to have the flexibility of still having a cab on the tractor,” says Andreas Klauser, Case IH brand president. “This is the direction we are taking because we want our customers to feel comfortable as they begin to delegate more tasks to the machines themselves.”

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The concept tractor uses four cameras (two in front, two in rear), LiDAR, and radar obstacle detection technology to sense the world around it. (Photo courtesy of CNH Industrial.)

Watch It Go

You can see the autonomous concept tractor in action at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwC_Hzm5Z9s. The video showcases many of the unique features that helped it to win the GOOD DESIGN award. For example, you can see how the sensing technology works when the tractor “sees” and obstacle and what happens when another vehicle crosses its path. (Spoiler alert: it comes to a stop.)

Source: CNH Industrial