The Journey of the Tractors from Driver To Driverless

From driving a steam-powered tractor to steering a tractor driven by petrol, hydrocarbons, and electricity, Tractor technology has improved dramatically over nearly two centuries, resulting in a slew of astounding tractor technological advances.  More advancements, notably in tractors, are projected to lessen the human engagement required in many agricultural activities using artificial intelligence and robots.

The tractor's voyage began in the nineteenth century, when steam engines were still used, but most were portable steam engines and boilers mounted on wheels. Merritt & Kellogg was founded in 1873, and they created one of the earliest self-propelled steam traction engines capable of transporting goods from farm to farm without the usage of horses.

C & G Cooper Co. manufactured the first commercially viable units in 1876. In the United States, it is customary to celebrate the birthday of agricultural steam traction engines that replaced steam ploughs.

This machine was the first to have a single cylinder, 20-horsepower engine, and clutch. For years, steam engines were employed in farm machinery, but they were too massive and unwieldy to be put on a mobile unit.

Here Comes the First Power Tractor…

In 1919, International Harvester developed the first commercial power takeoff (PTO), which was incorporated into the 8-16 model. The machine had four cylinders, a three-speed unsynchronized gear system, and a wheelbase of 85 inches. It had a 42-wheel chassis and a kerosene fuel tank of 11 gallons. The PTO horsepower was measured at 19 belt and 11 drawbar revolutions per minute (RPM) with a controlled revolutions per minute (RPM) of 1,000.

Harry Ferguson invented the hitch points in the early 1920s and patented the concept in 1925, with a third hitch point added to another patent in 1928. This three-point system would enable tractors to be outfitted with modern hydraulics, transforming them into machines capable of more than just hauling and dragging. Ferguson's Brown Type A tractor was the first to use this technology.

The Entry of Diesel Engines

Tractors used kerosene and petrol in the beginning, but attempts to design a diesel tractor date back to the 1920s. The D9900, sometimes known as "Old Betsy," was a hand-built prototype of a Caterpillar diesel engine produced in 1927. Caterpillar produced its first diesel tractor, the Caterpillar Diesel Sixty Tractor, in 1931, and within a few years, the company had risen to become the world's top manufacturer of diesel engines.

In 1938, the market saw the introduction of the first fully covered cab. The Model U, which featured an 81-inch wheelbase and a semi-perimeter chassis with the front axle and engine mounted on a 1-by-6-inch steel plate frame, was the first vehicle produced by the Minneapolis-Moline corporation. The Comfortractor's top speed was 25 miles per hour.

Electrifying Tractors…

It takes more than just using batteries as a power source to electrify something. The goal is to replace engines and hydraulics with electrical drives. Electric motors are more efficient, dependable, and lightweight, and they provide a significant torque at low speeds. Compared to diesel tractors, electric tractors have a number of benefits.

The electric tractor was first introduced by Monarch tractors. The tractor, which was initially introduced in 2020, helps farmers address a variety of difficulties that they face today, including labour shortages, safety concerns, increased customer scrutiny of sustainable practises, regulations from the government, and more.

First Ever GPS Tractor....

The story of the tractor with GPS, which was still in its early stages in the mid-1990s when John Deere of Moline, Illinois, began employing it for precision agriculture. To assess crop production on different portions of the field, the company coupled GPS location data with readings from sensors on a harvesting combine.

Such data can assist farmers in allocating future resources as well as determining which seed kinds and management practises are the most productive.

But John Deere wanted to take it a step further, developing a technology that could steer the tractor automatically. Their tractor helps farmers deal with a variety of difficulties, including labour shortages, safety concerns, increased customer scrutiny of sustainable practises, government regulations, and more.

Smart Farming and Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems are now so embedded into agriculture that establishing a definite date is challenging. When GPS became a reality, computerised tractors and combines suddenly became "smarter" with improved gauges, sensors, and data monitoring.

Whereas manufacturers used to roll handfuls of dirt into balls to measure moisture, their great-grandchildren read from computer screens on their own portable phones. This enables tractor systems to plant at specific soil depths and space them appropriately based on the conditions.

Taranis, an AI-powered agriculture intelligence platform, is a classic example. It was chosen as a startup collaborator by John Deere. It enables farmers to make informed decisions by utilising powerful computer vision, data analytics, and deep learning algorithms.

The platform can monitor fields and detect early signs of uneven emergence, weeds, nutrient deficits, disease or insect infestations, water damage, and equipment malfunctions.

The future will be more of Self-Driving autonomous Tractors.

Autonomous tractors are driverless vehicles that use cutting-edge technology to maximize productivity while minimizing human intervention Farm equipment experts are predicting that autonomous vehicles will be the next big thing. They offer a wide range of benefits, including sharing, safety, and fuel efficiency. The notion of self-driving tractors is intended to revolutionize the agriculture industry.

On farms, smaller and lighter versions of automated tractors will be used to complete the same or more labour. Their advantages include less need for storage space, lower labour costs, less compacted soil, better crop yields, and higher farm income.

Self-guided systems have farmed 60 to 70 percent of North American agricultural land, 30 to 50 percent of cropland in Europe, and more than 90 percent of cropland in Australia.

The North America agricultural tractor market witnessed registrations of 301,989 units in 2022, which is expected to reach 391,799 units by 2028 growing at a CAGR of 4.43% during the forecast period. he agricultural tractor market in North America is dominated by low-range HP 2WD tractors, which accounted for a market share of more than 95% in 2022. Among the several tractor models available in the country, 2WD tractors are the most favoured by farmers. The low relative cost of ownership, the sufficiency of features and haulage power, and convention make 2WD tractors more popular among farmers.

The Europe tractor market size witnessed shipments of 158,231 units in 2022, which is expected to reach 200,449 units by 2028 growing at a CAGR of 4.02%. France holds the most prominent Europe tractor market share, with an overall unit registration of 36,423 units by November 2022. The increase in crop production and tractor sales resulted from favourable monsoon rains in 2020 and 2021, which helped the country to recover from the drought-induced low in 2017 and the COVID-19 pandemic. Germany held the second-largest Europe tractor market share in 2022, with overall sales of 33,676 units. The significant upcoming trend in the German agriculture scene is the feminization of agriculture due to the migration of men to urban cities, which drives the need to purchase tractors and other agricultural machinery to perform farming activities.

The Australia tractors market size was valued at 18,186 units in 2021 and is expected to reach 23,021 units by 2028 growing at a CAGR of 3.43% from 2022-2028. The Australia agriculture tractor market is witnessing a massive demand for tractors running on different fuels. The sale of tractors is affected due to fluctuating prices of conventional fuels such as diesel. Thus, manufacturers are focusing on developing alternative fuel-based tractors; nowadays, tractors running on liquefied natural gas (LNG), compressed natural gas (CNG), propane, diesel, and kerosene are also available. Also, the growing concerns over environmental pollution fuel the demand for biodiesel tractors. Farmers, however, are increasingly preferring them because of their considerably low operating costs as they require lesser maintenance.

IOT, Robotics & Data Collecting Tractors

By connecting tractors to the internet, farmers will be able to control the equipment from their computer or mobile device. Such connectivity is already available with John Deere and many other manufacturers' tractors, but enhanced versions may imply that the farmer will no longer need to step into the field in the near future.

Tractors equipped with radar sensors, numerous camera systems, and LiDAR systems capable of detecting moving objects in a variety of lighting and weather situations will reinforce and improve unmanned agricultural operations.

To track field activity, John Deere has created an app with different mapping layers. Farmers can use it to track the number of seeds planted per acre and calculate how far apart they are from one another.The OT sensors can detect the pressure applied to seeds as farmers plant them. They can then modify pressure and spacing based on the results. The data is all transferred to the cloud.

Many vital farm jobs are now performed by robots. Further advancements in agricultural robotics will result in autonomous tractors with improved agility and the capacity to gauge and negotiate various terrain types.Robot-as-a-service platforms will be used in the future to transform your existing tractors into high-tech autonomous ones.

For example The new autonomous tractor kit from Blue White Robotics' RaaS platform can turn any tractor into a fully autonomous machine or even a fleet of self-driving tractors. The company Blue White Robotics claims that its robot tractors increase farm productivity, accuracy, and worker safety by retrofitting existing infrastructure with clever autonomous algorithms. Farmers can precisely target their crop care with the help of an autonomous tractor kit, which also greatly lowers labour expenses.

 The kit limits exposure to dangerous pesticides and herbicides, makes it possible for tractors to perform mowing and spraying chores efficiently, and can be used in orchards and vineyards. The kit includes emergency off switches on the chassis, a pressure-sensitive front bumper that stops the tractor if it does run into an obstacle, optical cameras, lidar units, and GPS modules for obstacle recognition and avoidance.

Sensor-equipped tractors will gather and instantly make available data on a variety of agricultural aspects, including soil moisture content, the amount of fertiliser and pesticides used or still needed in the fields, weather patterns that can affect the crops, price trends for specific crops, the state of the commodities market, the fuel consumption of the tractor, and much more.

 The future of agriculture is without a doubt autonomous tractors. And agribusinesses must begin using self-driving farming equipment if they want to keep ahead of the competition, cut costs, and boost profitability. Future farming practises will be radically altered by fusing cutting-edge technology with farmers' experience and knowledge, and this will benefit people all around the world.