Autonomy is more than just a future aspiration — it’s a journey that you can take today to make your operation smarter, simpler, and more profitable. Contrary to popular belief, autonomy in agricultural isn’t something that will suddenly develop and be used worldwide. It’s a gradual process of technological investments that simplify operations today while keeping the end-goal of a fully-remote driverless farming future — the ultimate way to do more with less — in mind. Farmers today are making great advancements in efficiency by investing in different “building blocks” or pieces of autonomy, depending on their individual needs. For example, the latest driverless solution — the Case IH Trident™ 5550 applicator with Raven Autonomy™ — is made up of various individual guidance, perception, and path planning technologies from Raven, most of which are available on the aftermarket. By implementing various “building blocks,”, a farmer becomes increasingly prepared to take on a driverless — and, eventually, autonomous — operation in the future while realizing a plethora of short-term efficiency and profitability gains now.

Raven calls this gradual process of investments the “Path to Autonomy.” They explain this path as a journey, walking customers through different “levels” of automation with different suites of technology that reduce operational stress, improve connectivity, and take care of individual functions, letting the farmer focus on the big picture. At each increasing level, the degree of automation increases. Currently, Level 4 Supervised Autonomy solutions such as Raven’s OMNiDRIVE™ autonomous harvest application and OMNiPOWER™ 3200 multi-purpose power platform are leading the market. Level 5 Full Autonomy solutions, where the farmer will be able to manage driverless vehicles remotely, are still in development for the foreseeable future.

To get started on your Path to Autonomy journey, Raven recommends establishing these three tools to continuously help you evaluate your status and next steps as you approach autonomy.

To get started on your individual journey on the Path to Autonomy, visit https://ravenind.com/path-to-autonomy. If you are interested in beginning your next steps forward, you can connect with a dealer or Raven representative, experience autonomy at an event, or apply to become a technology partner.