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AUTONOMUOUS TRACTOR CORP. — eDrive
Tech Specs: The eDrive system from Autonomous Tractor Corp. is an electric aftermarket drivetrain that can re-power older tractors from 100-400 horsepower or power implements directly. It is much more efficient than a mechanical or hydrostatic system and has a significantly longer service life (25,000 hours). It is an electric drive and can be supplied with electricity from a wide variety of sources including generators, fuel cells and batteries.
Compatibility Index: Exclusively Aftermarket Product
WOW Factor: At a cost of less than $350 per horsepower, it is an economic solution to many power needs and a future autonomous tool. As a drive-by-wire system, it is much more precise and more safely operated than a conventional tractor-implement setup.
LAFORGE — Guided Hitch
Tech Specs: The Guided Hitch from Laforge is an active implement guidance planter solution that reliably places the seed where it needs to be. The guided hitch replaces the standard hitch to improve steering response and uses John Deere’s Active Implement Guidance to automatically steer the planter to the guidance line. The hitch is maintenance free, utilizing greaseless bushings.
Compatibility Index: Exclusively Aftermarket Product
WOW Factor: The advantages of the system include, reduced planting sidehill drift, improved yield by reducing seedbed compaction, optimized seed placement relative to nutrient application and preventative crop damage in field operations including spraying, sidedressing and harvesting.
SUNCO MARKETING — Implement Guidance Hitch
Tech Specs: The Implement Guidance Hitch from Sunco Marketing mounts on the front of pull-type implements and is interchangeable between 2 point and drawbar versions. It efficiently steers the operator’s implement from a leading position instead of a trailing position and allows the implement to steer on headlands or in reverse with the toolbar raised, while at the same time eliminating crop damage and soil disturbance from rearward mounted steerable coulters.
Compatibility Index: Exclusively Aftermarket Product
WOW Factor: The system allows producers to steer large, heavy implements not only while engaged on a GPS line, but also on headlands and in reverse minimizing headlands passes. The mounting location at the front of the implement eliminates mounting difficulties common to bulk fill planters, implements with a rear hitch and implements with flip up row units.
