John Deere demonstrated a fully autonomous tractor at CES 2022 in Las Vegas. Heavy equipment maker said that the tech is a way to increase global food production in the face of labor shortages.

Farmers will be able to control the 8R tractor with a smartphone app, the company said adding the machine will be capable of operating without human intervention. Farmworkers can increase productivity by focusing on other tasks while the tractor readies the soil for planting, John Deere said. The company explained the set-up employs GPS for navigation and AI to autonomously prepare fields for planting based on soil conditions.

John Deere claims the equipment’s neural network can classify each pixel recorded by cameras in 100 milliseconds. The mobile app will give farmers access to live video from the tractor’s cameras and data collected by its sensors. Remote adjustment of metrics including speed and depth of soil tilling are also on offer. Sensors will also detect objects which could obstruct the tractor’s path, preventing accidents or collisions, the company explained. The machine will be commercially available later this year.