Agricultural machinery manufacturer Kubota has developed a driverless tractor that is fully electric. Known as X tractor, it has been designed as part of the company’s Agrirobo automated technology program
The company has now revealed much of the technical details of the tractor, but it looks like to have been inspired by Mars Rover.
It gets power from lithium-ion battery packs and solar panels installed onboard.
For autonomous driving, the tractor gets a host of sensors, cameras, GPS technology and an artificial intelligence-based guidance system, claims the company. It also says the tractor can monitor weather and growth rate of crops. Apart from that, it can perform tasks like seeding, harvesting and tilling.
Instead of conventional wheels, the X tractor gets four crawlers and there is a Formula One car-like cockpit as well. These crawlers are claimed to be giving the tractor optimum traction.
Kubota also claims the height of the vehicle can be adjusted according to the owner’s preference, in order to bring additional stability. While thee is no news about the production of this tractor, but if Kubota starts rolling out this model for the mass market, it could compete with self-driving tractors from Yanmar and CNH Industrial.
Source: auto.economictimes.indiatimes.com