All news

AI-assisted tractors tilled over 2.3 mln hectares of land in 2023 — developer

"Cognitive Pilot summarized results of operations for tractors equipped with the AI-based Cognitive Agro Pilot system in Russia," the company’s press service noted

MOSCOW, December 12. /TASS/. The large-scale use of tractors with an autopilot provided with artificial intelligence (AI) started in Russia in 2023, Cognitive Pilot company told TASS.

The company is producing the Cognitive Agro Pilot agriculture machinery independent control system based on AI technologies, making it possible for an operator to give control to an assisting robot. According to the assessment of Cognitive Pilot, automated tillage by a self-driving truck makes it possible to increase productivity to 25% and save up to 20-40% on fertilizers and seeds. The large-scale rollout of tractors with this system, unrivaled globally, started in the Russian agricultural sector in 2023.

"Cognitive Pilot summarized results of operations for tractors equipped with the AI-based Cognitive Agro Pilot system in Russia. Smart machinery tilled more than 2.3 mln hectares in total," the company’s press service said.

Overall, 312 tractors with the Cognitive Agro Pilot worked in Russian farms from March to November. The benefit from using the Cognitive Agro Pilot totaled in average 2.6 mln rubles ($28,700) per field with the area of one thousand hectares or more than five bln rubles ($55.2 mln) in total. "Savings from the Cognitive Agro Pilot use per farm will amount to as much as dozens of millions of rubles against the average size of Russian farms up to 10,000 hectares. The figure for large farms will be billions of rubles," the press service noted, citing head of Interagrotech association Natalya Filippova.

This is the first case of the large-scale commercial use of artificial intelligence in Russia for tractors, the key fleet of agricultural machinery. "We have received a very strong result. It should be taken into account that the bulk of the machinery arrived at farms and was able to start working in the second half of the year only. Our smart machinery actually worked for slightly more than a third of the season. Obtained results evidence high potential and prospects of using our robotic tractors," CEO Olga Uskova said, cited by the press service.