John Deere came home having garnered top awards at the CES 2025 show last week in Las Vegas, where the Moline-based equipment maker unveiled several new autonomous machines aimed at improving the workload of customers across its agriculture, construction and commercial landscaping markets.
The CES, formerly known as the Consumer Electronics Show, was held Jan. 7-10 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Owned and produced by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), it is the only trade show that showcases the entire tech landscape at one event.
Deere, which debuted its autonomous technology at the CES in 2022, returned to this year’s show with a second-generation autonomy advancements for several Deere machines. The new technology combines its advanced computer vision, AI, and cameras to help the machines navigate their environments.
Deere took advantage of the international technology show to reveal its new autonomous machines during a news conference there. Its new innovations won Best of CES awards
from these media outlets: Geek Spin, Ubergizmo, and JR Tech.
John Deere’s awards included:
- Best of CES award for the John Deere Autonomous Diesel Orchard Tractor. According to Ubergizmo’s news release, “John Deere’s Autonomous Diesel Orchard Tractor is set to turn high-value crop farming upside down, particularly in California’s orchards. This tractor employs advanced autonomous navigation technology to address labor shortages and the demanding nature of orchard work. Equipped with nine cameras, three Lidar sensors, and additional sensors, it effectively navigates dense orchard canopies where traditional GPS systems falter… This innovation allows the tractor to autonomously traverse orchard rows, recognizing tree positions and adjusting its path in real-time, enhancing productivity and reducing reliance on manual labor.
- Best of CES award for the company’s overall booth and autonomous technology options coming to these machines: 9RX tractor; electric utility tractor, articulated dump truck (ADT), and a battery electric commercial mower. Geek Spin said this about the company in announcing the awards: “John Deere has been the behind-the-scenes MVP of CES for a few years now, with autonomous tech that makes huge impacts on farming. This year, John Deere detailed what they’ve been working on off the farm, and it’s no less impressive — a commercial mower, an autonomous tractor to help spray orchards, and a massive autonomous dump truck that can help expedite construction projects.”
On the eve of the CES, John Deere revealed these new capabilities and the machines at a news conference Monday, Jan. 6.
“Our agriculture, construction and commercial landscaping customers all have work that must get done at certain times of the day and year, yet there is not enough available skilled labor to do the work, Jahmy Hindman, the company’s chief technology officer, said in a Deere release.
“Autonomy can help address this challenge. That’s why we’re extending our technology stack to enable more machines to operate safely and autonomously in unique and complex environments.”
He added that the advancements not only benefit Deere’s customers “but all of us who rely on them to provide the food, fuel, fiber, infrastructure and landscaping care that we depend on every day.”
According to the company, select John Deere machines will be autonomy ready from the factory. In addition, the second-generation perception system will be available as a retrofit kit for certain existing models. The machines are managed via John Deere Operations Center Mobile, the company’s cloud-based platform.
During the four-day show, key company leaders also shared their expertise as guest speakers for the event. The speakers and their panels were: Deanna Kovar, president for the Worldwide Agriculture & Turf Division at John Deere, “Tech Without Borders: The Benefits of Tech for all Communities;” Sarah Schinckel, director of Emerging Technologies for Deere’s Intelligent Solutions Group (ISG), “AI or Die? Why Farms Must Embrace the AI Revolution to Survive;” and Gaurav Bansal, vice president of engineering at Blue River Technology (a John Deere company), “Robot Farm 2050: A Look at Robotics & The Future of Farming.”
The CES 2025, which claims to be the most powerful tech event in the world, brings in various companies including manufacturers, developers and suppliers of consumer technology hardware, content, technology delivery systems as vendors and presenters to reveal next gen technologies, products and advancements.
