New Holland presented the T8 tractor with Raven Autonomy, the driverless grain cart harvest application, at SIMA 2022. It integrates OMNiDRIVE, the first driverless agriculture technology for grain cart harvest operations, which originated as an aftermarket solution developed by Raven in 2019. The innovative technology stack enables the farmer to monitor, synchronize and operate a driverless tractor from the cab of the harvester.

Eric Weaver, New Holland Precision Technology Global Director, said: “The T8 has evolved to be the most intuitive tractor the field has ever seen. With the integration of Raven’s driverless agricultural technology, the platform has added driverless capabilities in harvest applications, which has tremendous benefits in today’s labour-constrained market. Driverless technology is now a reality and fully integrated in New Holland’s products thanks to Raven technology.

The state of regulations on autonomy today is diverse around the globe and we cannot predict how regulations are going to evolve, so we are preparing for different scenarios: an approach that will allow us to be very agile as regulation allow market introduction.

In essence, the path to autonomy is a journey, and this new integration is the demonstration of the efforts we put into continuous innovation.”

Driverless Tractor Operation From the Cab

The T8 with Raven Autonomy™ enables the farmer to monitor and operate the driverless T8 tractor from the cab of the combine harvester in grain cart applications. The system enables them to set a field plan, stage locations, adjust the tractor’s speeds and monitor location activity. They can control the tractor pulling a grain cart alongside the combine harvester as it offloads on the go. The automated synchronization of combine and cart saves grain spillage during offloading. When this is done,  the tractor will return to a predetermined unloading area. The entire operation is completed without a second driver.

The intuitive system helps the farmer manage their fleet efficiently by tracking their combine harvesters’ coverage in real-time, tractor and combine performance analytics, fuel status and run time, and real-time monitoring of all their machines’ locations. All the data are backed up and stored on a cloud-based platform.

New Holland’s Next Step to Autonomous Operation

The T8 with Raven Autonomy is the latest step in New Holland’s continuous development of its precision farming portfolio and investment in its digital transformation strategies. CNH Industrial’s acquisition of Raven in November 2021, built on a long partnership, was part of this strategy, adding strong innovation capabilities in autonomous and precision agriculture technology.

Raven’s pioneering innovations in precision agriculture, their extensive product experience, customer-driven software expertise and engineering acumen are already delivering a significant boost to New Holland’s machines’ capabilities, as shown by the T8 with Raven Autonomy™.

Driverless technologies combined with the intelligence solution range we are currently offering improve efficiency across all cropping practices in countless applications with greater precision, productivity and flexibility, as well as higher dependability in meteorological situations.

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