A fleet of unmanned John Deere tractors have been deployed in south Florida by US Sugar to work across its 255,000ac, which has been designed to operate 24 hours per day.
The new robotic fleet includes four John Deere 8R Series tractors and one John Deere 9R Series tractor.
They are fitted with American technology developed by Autonomous Solutions, Inc. (ASI) and sold by Florida distributor Everglades Equipment Group.
The tractors, which traditionally are manually operated, are fitted with Mobius, ASI’s autonomous fleet management system, to operate autonomously with oversight from a central command station, where a single operator runs multiple vehicles at once.
US Sugar CEO, Ken McDuffie said: “US Sugar has always believed that combining innovation with hard work is the best way to keep feeding American families.
“By leveraging American technology to increase efficiency and maximise productivity, we are also increasing reliability in our domestic food supply while creating new, higher-skilled opportunities for our employees.”
John Deere autonomous tractors
Since deployment, the autonomous tractors have delivered measurable benefits across the sugar farms, including improved accuracy, higher production, enhanced sustainability and increased reliability in land preparation.
The technology was piloted on US Sugar’s farmlands during an 18-month research and development phase.
As the company expands its autonomous fleet, it is working to retain every current employee by retraining tractor drivers to fill other roles across the operation.
US Sugar selected ASI, which specialises in industrial off-road vehicle automation, to develop, test and customise the autonomous system to its operations.
ASI’s solution integrates with the tractors’ existing drive-by-wire system, turning familiar John Deere platforms into fully autonomous workhorses capable of continuous, precise operation.
ASI CEO Mel Torrie said: “At ASI, our mission is to help you reach your potential through innovative robotic solutions, and US Sugar is a powerful example of that mission in action.
“This deployment demonstrates that autonomy is not a futuristic concept.
“It is a practical, scalable tool that helps American farmers do more with less, improve safety in the field and keep pace with global demand.”
Farm machinery
The tractors were purchased from Everglades Equipment Group, a company headquartered in Florida and known for its expertise in large-scale farming machinery.
Mike Schlechter, president at Everglades Equipment Group, said: “Everglades Equipment Group is proud to stand alongside US Sugar and ASI in bringing this next-generation of agricultural technology to South Florida’s fields.
“By pairing John Deere’s trusted equipment with cutting-edge autonomous systems, we are helping growers boost productivity, improve accuracy and reduce resource use, all while keeping American agriculture at the forefront of innovation.”
The technology is currently used for sugarcane land preparation and cultivation.
The company intends to expand the technology for other types of farming, including sweetcorn and green bean land preparation and cultivation in the future.