Together with other partners in the project consortium, the companies EIDAM Landtechnik GmbH, IAV Automotive Engineering, John Deere, BITSz electronics GmbH, IndiKar Individual Karosseriebau GmbH and Raussendorf Maschinen- und Gerätebau GmbH, as well as various research institutes, Reichhardt presented autonomous agricultural machinery in swarm configuration for the first time. The exclusive presentation of this groundbreaking development took place in the best weather at the end of September on the Raitzen estate in Naundorf in the presence of high-ranking representatives of the Saxon state government, the State Office for the Environment, Agriculture and Geology, industry and other invited guests.

During the more than 3-year project duration since August 2017, several key technologies and innovative solutions could be developed, which were impressively presented to the public at the conclusion of the research project. In the demonstration, the two field swarm units (FSE) drove autonomously in the specified swarm network, and the John Deere tractor equipped with TIM was controlled by the attached FSE.

“The FELDSCHWARM growth core is synonymous with a new age of autonomous field cultivation,” summarizes Dr. Thomas Pohlmann, managing director of Reichhardt GmbH Steuerungstechnik. “Reichhardt, as part of a top-class project consortium with a start-up mentality, has realized, among other things, a new level of ISOBUS automation for autonomous agricultural machinery. This is one of the essential prerequisites for creating an ecosystem that will only make the operational use of autonomous agricultural technology technically and economically possible.”

In several joint and sub-projects, the project partners have researched and developed technologies that will enable the transition from today’s agricultural technology to a highly automated autonomous agricultural technology in the future, and which will also make a significant contribution to sustainable and resource-saving field cultivation.

The innovative technologies and solutions are now being introduced into operational practice and offered to other interested cooperation partners.