New Products & Services
Case IH marks 175th anniversary of founding firm with unveiling of autonomous tractor at SIMA show
Driverless Magnum concept makes Europe debut / Tractor offers potential to relieve operators of need for long hours in the eld / Latest Quantum models plus new precision technology also on display / 2017 marks 175 years since 1842 foundation of JI Case �reshing Machine Company in Racine, Wisconsin, today ' s home of Magnum
�e rst major international show of its 175th anniversary year will see Case IH unveil to farmers the very latest from the brand ' s innovation team, in the form of the autonomous Magnum tractor revealed at the US Farm Progress Show last autumn. While the machine is currently a concept, it will be complemented on the Case IH stand at the SIMA show in Paris, France by recent product introductions including the updated Quantum plus uprated round and square balers and new precision farming technology.
While auto-steering and other automated machine functions are already helping to improve circumstances for operators on currently-available machines, long hours in the eld are o�en still essential, while sourcing staff sufficiently quali ed and prepared to work them is becoming difficult. Designed to relieve drivers from long hours in the tractor seat and allow farm businesses to make better use of labour, while making possible unmanned work around the clock, the Autonomous Concept Vehicle( ACV) even offers the potential to automatically adapt to weather events, and can work alongside existing machines. �e ACV has been awarded a silver medal in the SIMA Innovation Awards.
Retaining its conventional engine, transmission, chassis and implement couplings, and using RTK GPS to provide sub-2.5cm steering repeatability, the ACV development offers the potential to address these
issues and enable farmers and farm staff to enjoy more sociable working hours, thereby helping support the industry and its existing labour force. It does this through a design which allows programming, control and monitoring of the tractor to be carried out remotely via a tablet or PC. Safety is assured through the use of in-built sensor, radar and laser-based lidar technology, integrated into the restyled cabless design. Where elds are interlinked by private tracks, the ACV can even be programmed to move between them, and has the potential to use weather data to stop work if weather dictates, and even use that data to move to a eld with drier conditions. Currently, the ACV is a concept, but its technologies are suited to integration into new conventional tractors in the future, and are as applicable to smaller tractors – those for orchard work, for example – as they are to machines of the size of Magnum.
�is is re ected in the more
January- February 2017
FARMERS
[ 60 ] REVIEW AFRICA www. farmersreviewafrica. com