INTERVIEW ▶▶▶ Marien van Breugel
‘Future belongs to the small self-driving tractor’
The world was amazed at how the small Dutch company Precision Makers not only converted tractors into robotic tractors but also produced one without a cab. How did they manage faster than the major manufacturers? And where will they go from here? Marien van Breugel, Business Unit Manager at Precision Makers, shares his vision with us.
BY BAS VAN HATTUM
Let us briefly recap: you achieved success as a small start- up converting ordinary tractors into robotic ones. Why did this stop at the end of 2018? “If you build an added application such as our X-pert kit into a (standard) tractor, you have to respond extremely quickly when a tractor manufacturer releases new software. What this meant was that we were only able to respond to what had happened and we could not anticipate. This made it very difficult for us, not to men- tion costly. The opportunity to work with a major global player such as John Deere also means that we need to focus. That is why we stopped selling our X-pert conversion kits and began focusing on collaboration and continuing the development of the cab-less Greenbot robotic tractor.”
You now have a deal with John Deere. Does that mean that you will devote yourselves entirely to John Deere products? “Not entirely. However, much of our time will be spent on them. The deal means that autonomous mowers will be sold through the John Deere channel on the short term. I am consulting with the Americans once a week. I am pleased that we are now work- ing in a partnership with a major brand; you can see that autonomous technology is truly being integrated in the machine and within John Deere. This means that sales, service, after-care, and continued development will be a fixed component.”
Are you saying that autonomous technology such as you are producing, will inevitably be swallowed up by a major manufacturer?
14 ▶ FUTURE FARMING | 27 August 2019
“Exactly. Our aim has always been to develop this technology, to provide a firm foundation and to ultimately sell it. Only, we did not manage to do that. I must say that I briefly thought it was possible to integrate autonomous technology within the Isobus protocol and then via Tractor Implement Management (TIM). But it turned out that most manufacturers preferred doing things their own way, rather than using a standardised Isobus.”
You also said that the major innovations in terms of auton- omous technology can only successfully enter the market if they are picked up by big manufacturers? “There is actually no other way. If you think about it, the major manufacturers have a global network in which parts, expertise and service are organised, and we could never have done that as a small business. Linking up with a major company is the only way to get the knowledge you have gained into the market.”
What still stand in the way of a global breakthrough? “Two things: legislation and acceptance. As usual, legislation is an area in which we are yet to establish aspects such as liability, marking out plots where robots will be driving around. I believe that this can be resolved in the short term with pressure from the manufacturers. The other factor is acceptance. The autonomous technology is ready. It has been for a long time, in fact. But it is the farmers and greenkeepers that need to be convinced. Com- pare it with the introduction of milking robots. When Lely launched one in 1995, farmers needed to be convinced not only of the product but also of the fact that the robot could properly milk. It was not until the number of milking robots increased markedly that we could progress, and sales grew rapidly. The
PHOTO: BAS VAN HATTUM
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