Vantage brings Australian-first in agricultural technology

New autonomous technology for farmers will be hitting the market later this year with a level four autonomous chaser cart.

While autonomous equipment is not new to Australian shores, the OutRun product will be a first for Australia.

Vantage NSW has partnered with Canadian company PTx Trimble, and PT x Trimble Australia & New Zealand to bring almost fully autonomous technology to farmers.

Over the past six months, Vantage NSW and PTx Trimble have worked closely together adapting OutRun to fit in the Australian market.

“Autonomy is not new in Australia, there has been other companies that have been doing autonomous solutions in a limited fashion, but I suppose this is the first time we have seen the OutRun system here…this is very, very new,” Scott Jameson, sales support and business partnership lead of Vantage NSW said.

PTx Trimble have been already introduced the technology to the United States of America to, so far, great success.

“Feedback has been great, I mean, it’s still an early product, but those farmers and growers that have been using the system have found other ways to use their labour,” Dinen Subramaniam, product launch manager for OutRun, said.

OutRun connects your chaser cart to a retrofit kit which then is controlled via iPad.

The header operator uses the iPad to deliver instructions to the chaser cart, signalling when it is needed and where.

Starlink internet as well as local Wi-Fi is used to run the technology, ensuring connection doesn’t fail.

Select farmers and professionals were recently able to witness the groundbreaking product on a farm outside of Gunnedah.

Onlookers were impressed, but concerns were raised regarding price points and how the product would affect labourer work on farm.

“As a business, we are looking at what farmers are requiring going forward, and labour issues are a challenge in our industry,” Mr Jameson said.

“This project is not so much about replacing labour on the farms, it’s about utilising that labour better in other areas of the farm.”

Safety measures put in place include a light and sound to signal when the chaser is about to drive.

There are also sensors put in place to stop the chaser when there is something detected within 10 meters of both the front and rear of the tractor.

“Whilst the operator in the harvester ultimately has control of the grain cart or the chaser bin there’s a whole range of safety features,” Mr Jameson said.

“The safety features are there if somebody does happen to drive out in front of it or there’s a cow in the paddock or something like that, sensors are there that will stop the tractor and it will not proceed until you basically work out what’s there or if that object moves, so it moves out of the road, then it will proceed.”

Rollout for the technology is taking place later this year, with Vantage NSW bringing the product along to AgQuip.

OutRun will be starting off at 55,000USD a year along with 15,000USD annual cost, however, the hope is to decrease the cost over time making it accessible to more farms.

The on-farm demonstration near Gunnedah.

“In 2026, OutRun will be available to both Australian, North American, and potentially South American customers as well in a limited commercial fashion,” Mr Subramaniam said.

At the moment, however, the OutRun technology is only compatible with John Deere and their models, though PTx Trimble and Vantage NSW say they are hoping to change that.

OutRun is just the start of the journey for both Vantage NSW and PTx Trimble, with future plans hoping to integrate tillage, sewing, and more to the autonomous technology.

Michael Casey, managing director of Vantage NSW said that at the end of the day, the farmers and their needs are their top priority.

“We want to really understand how the next piece of technology, which is a tillage application, how that’s going to fit into farm applications as well…That’s probably got more demand than this feature set,” Mr Casey said.

“We live and breathe what our farmers do, we’re partners in crime. They’re the whole reason we exist.

“We’re not in the business of selling gimmicks, we like to be really clear and transparent on what certain technologies are capable of, and also what the shortcomings are, or even the safety concerns.”

Farmers are excited for the technology, noting that the future of ag technology is closer than they thought.

John Hamparsum said that he never thought he would witness such technology, let alone on his farm, but that he is interested to see where products such as OutRun will take ag.

“It’s a huge change,” Mr Hamparsum said.

“I’ve grown up on a farm all my life and then suddenly seeing a tractor with no operator and driving across the paddock is a bit freaky, you feel like running out to stop it.

“In an operation like ours where there’s a lot going on during harvest, being able to free up an operator to do other things on the farm is a positive.

“This is the early prototype and we’re probably five years away, I suppose, before everyone’s got access to it at a reasonable price, but once it becomes available, I think tractors will be sold with the gear on it.

“And when that happens, depending on the price, I think you’ll see farmers take up that opportunity very quickly.”