Kubota, a major farm equipment manufacturer based in Japan, has partnered with U.S. chipmaker Nvidia to develop self-driving farm tractors, according to a statement made in early October.
The tractors are intended to be equipped with Nvidia graphics processing units and artificial intelligence, coupled with cameras to quickly process collected data. These measures should provide a labor-saving solution, as Japan’s agriculture industry suffers from a shortage of workers.
Kubota launched the Agrirobo line of tractors in 2017. Although the tractors can run autonomously using radar to take in surroundings, they require human supervision and do not use AI. The technology developed through the partnership with Nvida is aiming for complete autonomy.
