The self-driving tractor that takes over tasks from the farmer

The self-driving tractor that takes over tasks from the farmer

A tractor that drives across a field without a driver and starts working there on its own may sound like future music but will be reality within a few years' time. We developed the first self-driving tractor in our country that can take over all kinds of tasks from the farmer. During the fruit harvest, for instance, the tractor places empty crates next to the field. As soon as they are filled with fruit, it will pick them up again and place them in a truck. Such technological innovations will help farmers to work more efficiently and overcome labour shortages in the sector. We are also working on other custom-equipped vehicles, such as smart forklift trucks that are able to independently carry out tasks in all kinds of production environments.

Agriculture & industry

The agricultural sector has the ambition to produce in a more sustainable way, but is facing enormous challenges in this context, such as the extreme weather conditions associated with climate change and the need to feed a growing population. An additional problem is labour shortage, which undermines the sector’s long-term viability.

"Innovation and automation can provide an answer to this", says Chris Ganseman, Technical Project Manager at Flanders Make. "Autonomous agricultural vehicles increase production as they can work day and night. They can also tackle labour shortages and take over annoying, monotonous tasks from the farmer. Still, farmers will never be completely replaced, you will always need someone to control and maintain those machines."

Industry, such as the logistics sector, can also benefit from autonomous vehicles. We are working, for instance, on smart fork-lift trucks that can effectively find their way in warehouses. These machines understand the context and recognise the different objects with which they interact. Thanks to algorithms, these fork-lift trucks are able to deal with obstacles and changing conditions and can rapidly and autonomously calculate and follow another route. Through a link with logistic software, human errors during picking are virtually excluded.

What about the future?

So, more and more vehicles will in future not only be able to drive but also to work autonomously. To this end, Flanders Make is currently developing the necessary technology to optimise as soon as possible various applications that are useful for multiple sectors. "We not only want to make sure that tractors can do their job autonomously, we also aim at their multifunctional deployability", adds Chris Ganseman. "It is important that not too much time goes lost in preparing the tractor for a new task, the machines must be flexible to be effective. We are developing the necessary strategies to make this possible in a safe way."

In both agriculture and industry, we are evolving towards a situation where the operator stands at the side and controls autonomous vehicles using an interface on his PC or tablet. In addition, several machines will work together as well. For example, a drone and an autonomously driving tractor can be used together to achieve optimum spraying results. Based on hyperspectral images generated by the drone, the autonomous tractor can spray a field automatically, very accurately and using minimum quantities.

Contact us

Want to know more about our autonomous tractor or other autonomous vehicles? Please contact us.

Kristof Vrancken, Communication Officer

Kristof Vrancken is Digital Communication Officer at Flanders Make since 2019. As Digital Marketeer with experience in both B2B and B2C environments he writes with a fresh view on technological innovation, about what literally and figuratively moves within our research centre.