Autonomous Field Robotics

Book excerpt: The market penetration of highly automated agricultural vehicles in crop farming and arable environments is still very low. However, the unsettled issues and market barriers stem from three main topics. The first is the technical development and appropriate framework conditions for hardware and software required for autonomous field vehicles. The second is the regulatory framework needed to facilitate investment by manufacturers and users. Finally, the third topic is the willingness of the user to accept the non-deterministic systems that are common in agricultural practices today. Autonomous Field Robotics is a joint report between SAE International and the German Institute for Standardization (DIN) developed to enable relevant stakeholders—including users, regulators, researchers, and manufacturers, among others—to discuss the barriers facing automated agricultural vehicles. The report includes a cross-industry and cross-sector exchange on the three central aspects, a prioritization of the unsettled questions to be addressed, as well as a pragmatic framework to enable the use of autonomous field robotics beyond the scientific context in agricultural practice. Click here to access the full SAE EDGETM Research Report portfolio. https://doi.org/10.4271/EPR2022023