Quad Cities, Iowa — Iowa’s largest manufacturing employer is using this year’s Consumer Electronics Show to introduce its first autonomous tractor.
Quad Cities-based John Deere put on an hour-long, multi-media presentation Tuesday, showing off the tractor that’ll be available later this year. Deere’s Deanna Kovar says autonomous tractors will help farmers do their difficult, time-consuming jobs.
Farmers can operate and monitor the tractor from their smartphone, tablet or computer, and she thinks it’ll give them more time — to run their farms and to spend with their families. Deere’s presentation featured Doug Nimz, a corn and soybean farmer from Minnesota, who’s shown in the video operating a tractor with his phone.
Nimz says farmers are traditional as a rule, but he believes they’ll soon accept autonomous tractors, adding, “It will be a life changer for me.”
