OpinionIn the third part of his series on the economics of farm autonomy, adviser Graham Gleed argues that the dealer channel is how driverless technology reaches farmers, citing U.S. Sugar's deployment and Monarch Tractor's collapse.
AgrotechA World Agri-Tech panel in London said driverless tractors will spread only as fast as implements from different brands can work with them, with data ownership another hurdle.
AgrotechPeter Baars mows his apple and pear orchards with an autonomous Fendt and maps every tree with a roof camera, but says full trust needs tractor and implement to communicate and stop themselves.
AgrotechThe Carbon Autonomy Ready programme sets specifications so implements can connect directly to Carbon's autonomous tractors; Great Plains' HT1100 Terra-Max tillage tool is the first.
Fendt says its PTx OutRun retrofit kit lets a sensor-equipped tractor haul a grain cart to the combine with no driver, John Deere reaches level-4-like autonomy with StarFire and AI cameras, and Kubota will launch Japan's first remotely monitored unmanned tractors in April 2027.
Axel Månsson, who farms 3,000 hectares in Jutland, has run an AgXeed T2 7-SERIES autonomous tractor with a Carbon Robotics LaserWeeder since April and says labour is where it saves most.
Seattle laser-weeding company Carbon Robotics crossed $100 million in revenue in the year to March 2026, is building a new and still unannounced farm machine, and intends to become a publicly traded company, founder Paul Mikesell says.
