Kubota North America has extended its collaboration with agricultural autonomy software company Agtonomy to bring self-driving operation to the Kubota M5 Low Profile (M5L) diesel tractor for orchard and nut growers, the Global Ag Tech Initiative reports.
The next phase of the pilot will integrate Agtonomy's software with the M5L for core specialty-crop work: spraying, mowing and cultivation under the trees. The tractor's low profile and extra lift capacity open up more orchard jobs, including sanitation mowing, and let growers bring autonomy into the diesel tractors they already know. The narrower M5N, already in the programme, is aimed at narrow-row crops.
"Kubota values our relationship with Agtonomy and is committed to finding solutions for the specialty agricultural market," said Don Lowe, senior director at Kubota Tractor Corporation, calling the expansion another step towards commercialisation in the segment.
Agtonomy chief executive and co-founder Tim Bucher, himself a specialty crop grower, said orchard work depends on having the right equipment and skilled people available at the right time, and that bringing the technology to the M5L responds to that need by helping growers get essential work done with the labour they have.
Kubota says the pilot was shaped by grower feedback and that its dealers will help farmers fit the technology into existing workflows.
Photo: MB-one / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Source: PrecisionAg
Comments
(0)