FarmDriverless farm tractor

Autonomous 8R / 9R tractors and autonomy kits

Name: Autonomous 8R / 9R tractors and autonomy kits
Brand: John Deere

John Deere sells camera kits that let its big 8R and 9R tractors work a field with no one in the cab. The farmer sets the job up and watches it on a phone app. AgFunderNews, 5 Jan 2022

Stage 4 of 5

Paying customers

Which rule placed it

Evidence: Company-reported only
Human help: Not disclosed
Last milestone: 11 Oct 2025

01Can I get it?

Yes, in places

Where it works today: Autonomous tillage (working the soil) on corn and soybean fields in the US Midwest. AgriNews, 11 Oct 2025
Published price: No published price in our sources.
Human help: The maker hasn't said whether people help it remotely.

02Track record

What has actually happened

Every milestone is dated and links to the page it comes from. Lines marked company-reported rest on the maker's own word.

11 Oct 2025
Paying customers · sets the stage
Deere said farmers can do tillage on their own fields with its autonomy upgrade, and that autumn 2025 would be its biggest season yet for the number of machines running.
AgriNews, 11 Oct 2025Company-reported
6 Jan 2025
Update
At CES 2025 Deere showed a second-generation autonomy kit with 16 cameras for a 360-degree view, and extended autonomy to the larger 9RX tractor.
DTN Progressive Farmer, 6 Jan 2025Company-reported
6 Jan 2025
On sale · sets the stage
Deere said the retrofit kits fit 9R and 9RX tractors from model year 2022 on, and newer 8R and 8RX tractors.
AgWeb, 6 Jan 2025Company-reported
23 Nov 2022
Paying customers · sets the stage
Bloomberg reported that farmers were already paying Deere to use its automation for tillage work in autumn 2022.
Bloomberg (via BNN Bloomberg), 23 Nov 2022Company-reported
5 Jan 2022
Unveiled
At the CES tech show in Las Vegas, John Deere showed a driverless version of its 8R row-crop tractor and called it commercially available.
AgFunderNews, 5 Jan 2022Company-reported

03Promised vs delivered

What the maker said, and when

Dated targets the maker set in public, against what has happened since.

Said6 Jan 2025
Full launch of autonomy retrofit kits in 2026
Deere said dealers would have a limited number of kits in 2025, with a full launch in 2026. AgWeb, 6 Jan 2025
Still pending
We did not find a source confirming the full 2026 launch.
Said23 Nov 2022
Fully autonomous US corn and soybean farming by 2030
Deere said US corn and soybean production could be fully autonomous by 2030. Bloomberg (via BNN Bloomberg), 23 Nov 2022
Still pending

04Safety and incidents

What has gone wrong

No crashes, recalls or regulator reports in our sources. That is not proof none happened; we add them when a regulator or trusted outlet reports one.

How we placed it

The rule, not an opinion

Stages are worked out by published rules from the dated milestones above. We never rate robots, and no maker can pay to change a stage.

5
Regulator-cleared or mass market
A regulator has cleared it where approval applies: FDA clearance or approval for a medical robot, a permit to run with no one aboard for a self-driving vehicle, or an FAA approval for routine drone flights. Or: Widely sold: sales in the hundreds of thousands, or a product category you can buy in ordinary shops.
4
Paying customersThis robot
Delivered to customers who pay for it, beyond a trial, or a paid service the public can use.
Placed by: Deere said farmers can do tillage on their own fields with its autonomy upgrade, and that autumn 2025 would be its biggest season yet for the number of machines running (11 Oct 2025); Deere said the retrofit kits fit 9R and 9RX tractors from model year 2022 on, and newer 8R and 8RX tractors (6 Jan 2025).
3
Pilot
Working with a named customer in a real setting, as a trial.
2
Pre-orders
Orders, reservations or deposits taken, with nothing delivered yet.
1
Demo only
Shown in videos, staged events or a factory, with no units working for customers.

What we couldn't confirm. No source gave a price, a subscription fee, or how many autonomous tractors are working. We could not confirm whether a remote person watches each machine.

Sources

Cite this page

Robotics Verdict. “Autonomous 8R / 9R tractors and autonomy kits (John Deere): how far has it got?” roboticsverdict.com/robots/john-deere-autonomous-tractors. Checked 19 October 2026.