In a windy field near Salina, Kansas, Agco unveiled its prototype retrofit autonomy kit for tractors in late June.
The system, called Outrun, is in keeping with Agco’s strategy of making its retrofit technologies compatible with multiple brands.
The kit has been engineered to work on a John Deere 8R tractor as well as select models of Fendts, with a promise of other models becoming compatible in the not-too-distant future.
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“What we’re providing is a kit that takes a tractor and allows it to run autonomously,” says Dinen Subramaniam, Agco’s product and marketing manager at PTx Trimble.
“Our system uses quite a lot of the technology stack that Agco has, everything from guidance, autonomy to computer vision.”
Currently, one version of Outrun is in the final, beta development stage, and the company expects to launch it commercially in 2025. Initially, it will be capable of pulling a grain cart. An expanded version capable of also working in tillage operations is under development as well.
Agco wants Outrun to eventually be capable of multiple functions, so producers don’t need to buy separate systems for every different type of field operation.
The first grain cart system to be market ready will allow one cart to work with one combine. However, work is progressing on allowing a pair of carts to service a single combine. That is currently in the earlier alpha development stage. A system with one cart servicing multiple combines isn’t yet in active trials.
“This year … we’re running 10 (single cart, single combine) systems,” says Subramaniam.
“In alpha this year, we have one combine running with two grain carts.”
The main components of the system bolt onto the roof of a tractor cab, and it uses both Doppler and Lidar sensors to “see” its environment.
“It houses all the electronics,” he adds.
“There are some electronics in the cab as well, but quite a minimum amount.
“This system works without any connectivity needed. It works completely offline. You do need to download some missions. Once you get the field set up, you drive to the field and no longer need any connectivity.”
The combine operator interfaces with the system using a tablet. There’s also some equipment mounted on the combine that enables communication between machines.
Outrun can be retrofitted onto select John Deere 8R tractors up to 10 years old. Which Fendt models are compatible has yet to be announced.
The tillage function isn’t as far along in development. It’s still in the early alpha stage.
“In alpha, the main question we’re trying to answer is, is this the right solution to generate value for the farmer,” says Jorge Viramontes, senior manager of product engineering at PTx Trimble.
“Our goal is to have a select number of units in the hands of farmers for the fall season.
“One of the first things we did was we went out to farmers and just observed them through the whole crop cycle,” says Kevin Jones, senior manager of product management, autonomous operations.
“We documented every job they do. We took that back for analysis. When it comes to autonomous tillage, we looked at what we have to automate to get that person out of the cab. There were 26 high-level jobs we had to create automations for.”
The tillage system requires an operator to make a manual first pass around the field to set the boundaries.
When Agco begins selling Outrun in 2025, there will be a one-time initial purchase cost, including installation and operator training. After that, producers will pay for actual hours of use on a subscription basis.
By eventually making Outrun capable of all types of field operations, Agco expects to be able to automate an entire cropping system without forcing a producer to buy a whole new line of equipment.
“We don’t want to require the farmer to buy a new tractor or new implement,” says Jones.
“We want to take the technology and insert it onto his current fleet.
“So retrofit first. Then we want to take this technology and streamline it for our products. We’re going to make it really easy for our autonomy-ready units coming out of the factory to bolt this technology onto. We’ll take the same autonomous kit that we can sell into the industry, but it’s just that much easier, cleaner, faster to bolt it onto our products coming out of the factory.
“That’s our one-two step of how we want to bring autonomy to the market.”
