We also visited a contractor using the system for jobs such as GPS mapped precision drilling of new orchard plantings and composting as well as for spraying and mowing. His feedback was that with an Operator in the cab you have a limited amount of time at 100% accuracy and optimum ability, it then starts to decrease. With the ProbotIQ system the precision does not alter. He also said that problems with shortages of and unreliable labour were solved with this system. He has a second system on order.

We spent time operating tractors and using the 'Teach and Playback' technology, programming routes and manoeuvres and such things as turning the sprayer on and off, PTO on and off and selecting engine speeds. It then replayed exactly what we had recorded of its own accord without anyone in the cab. We tested it in various ways such as putting an obstacle in the way which it detected once it was ten metres away and then stopped at 1.5 metres away. The system would have checked again at three minutes and restarted if the obstacle had gone, but as we were there we were able to set it going again remotely.

 

Eoin Treacy's view

Autonomous vehicles have been in place at mining operations for quite some time and technology has improved enough that they can now be used in the agriculture sector. As demand increases costs should fall which would make the technology even more accessible. 

The march of autonomous passenger vehicle innovation is hampered both by the technological challenge and the unanswered question of how insurance culpability can be assigned. The latter could be resolved with more complete statistical data actuaries can crunch through while the technology is slowed only by how strong our desire to solve the problem is. 

Autonomous drones and passenger vehicles are looking increasingly inevitable but the time to implementing a comprehensive rollout might be longer than many headlines suggest. Google and Amazon have been at the forefront of this technology while Toyota announced today that it is spending $1 billion to develop its own solution.