Robb Vanderloop, Vanderloop Equipment CFO and co-owner, views autonomy and AI as potential game-changers for both farmers and dealers.

The Wisconsin AGCO dealership started demoing Sabanto Steward autonomy kits for Fendt tractors model year 2022 and newer in late 2023. While autonomy has piqued the interest of several customers, implement control remains a significant hurdle to clear before the technology really takes off, Vanderloop says.

“You have to be able to control the variations of all the different implements, whether it’s a planter or something that has multiple functions of hydraulics,” he says. “We can do groups of 27 functions in a headland management configuration or a teaching configuration where the tractor will record a sequence of events. The challenge is being able to control all these implements, besides driving and obstacle detection.

AI will soon be as widespread and beneficial as autonomy, Vanderloop believes, even more so in the dealership world. He says it could eventually make the job of a technician much easier.

“AI will help with machine diagnostics,” Vanderloop says. “Our technicians have to be really good to be able to do diagnostics on some of these systems. In service training, they can bug a machine, and they have the technicians figure out where they bug the machine. That’s good, but it’s not the real world. In the real world, when you have a bug, it might happen once every hour, or once every 2 days. Figuring out how to diagnose it can be very challenging. With AI, a lot of this stuff will be self-learning. It’ll be able to see when it has a problem, detect it and report back if it’s a hydraulic failure or mechanical failure, and know enough to stop it.”

Robb’s son, Mark Vanderloop, co-owner and technology sales manager, shares the same belief in the potential of autonomy and AI. He believes both will help solve labor shortages and financial challenges related to inflation.

“We have a lot of good people around us, whether it’s on the farm, at the dealership or at the manufacturer level,” Mark says. “Technology like this can allow them to be more efficient, and, ultimately, magnify their skillsets.”

Related Content:

• Dealership Minds 2024: Vanderloop Equipment: For the sixth installment of Farm Equipment’s Dealership Minds series, 8 staff members traveled throughout central Wisconsin to experience first hand how a successful dealership — Vanderloop Equipment (VE) — operates in the midst of planting and hay cutting season in May.
• Cashflow Rules the Day, an in-depth interview with Robb Vanderloop.