Tractor, the most common word widely used in the farming sector, or we can say that tractor is the backbone of farming. Since its launch, it has become the best partner of the farmers as it reduces farmer's extra efforts. The machine comes with technologies that were enough to perform all the farming and commercial tasks. But with time, the latest technologies come and change the whole agriculture world. Automatic or driverless tractors are one of them. It is an unmanned tractor that operates through different techniques, and it makes farming operations more efficient and effortless. Automatic or driverless is a widely used and most popular term because these terms are an essential part of the automobile sector.

What is Driverless Tractor in Farming

A driverless tractor is also known as an Electric tractor and Autonomous tractor, a great invention in the farming sector. It reduces fuel consumption, labour effort and improves farming efficiency. The tractor provides a very well tractive effort at low speed. The Driverless tractor is manufactured with a battery and operated without human effort.

The farm vehicle programmed like another electric vehicle programmed. The Driverless tractor observes its position, takes decisions regarding speed, and avoids obstruction while working in the field. The driverless tractor's idea was proposed or passed in the 1940s, but it came into existence in the last few years. The tractor model completes tillage and other farming tasks without any extra effort, resulting in good and high output. The tractor model consists of many beneficial technologies, including GPS based technology and other wireless technologies.

The driverless tractor has come to improve automation in the farming sector. These types of tractors are already programmed with many other functions which help in the working field. A driverless tractor can detect all the obstacles and animals in its way. The tractor is designed in such a way that it can make the right decisions without taking much time. It can change the steering angle, apply the brake, scan the soil, field and weather conditions without any human effort because it is designed that way. The tractor can drive in the same way as humans do. The electric tractor observes its position and makes decisions about the speed it has to put up.

Technology used in the manufacture of driverless tractors

There are two technologies which are included in the tractor to perform all the tasks. In the below section the two technologies are defined.

Full Autonomous Technology

Most driverless tractors work with fully autonomous technology, which involves a laser facility for navigation. The laser bounces the singles from mobile transponders surrounding the field. These lasers have 150 MHz radios to deal with line-of-sight issues. The computer controllers replace the manual driver. These controllers perform as supervising agents on various working fields in one place. The technology also includes the native electrical system used to send the commands to the tractor. With the help of GPS positioning and radio feedback, the automation software manages the vehicle path.

The software also includes the implementation of farming. There are a radio receiver and computer on-board service that receive the command station's commands, which are in a remote place. The technology also helps translate the commands into vehicle commands such as acceleration, steering, etc. The sensor technologies used to increase the tractor's safety by detecting the obstacles in its path and reacting to them by taking the necessary decisions immediately.

Supervised Autonomy

Supervised autonomy tractors work on automated technology. But the difference between supervised autonomy and full autonomous technology is that there is an operator present in the supervised autonomy tractors. A wireless connection is placed between the two vehicles to exchange the data. In this technology, the leading tractor which has a supervisor operator determines the location and speed. And then, the information is transferred to the driverless tractor and followed the same.

Driverless Tractor Models In India

"Hulk" Driverless Tractor- The first Indian driverless tractor, made by Auto NXT company, named "Hulk". Auto NXT is a Mumbai based startup established by Kaustubh Dhonde, an electronics engineer.

Mahindra Driverless Tractor - Mahindra tractor brand has introduced a driverless tractor for big farmers, developed at the Mahindra research valley.