At Agritechnica 2025, Fendt 800 Vario autonomous outlined its present and future vision for the agricultural sector, focused on the automation of production processes.
At the center of this vision was the first autonomous version of an “800 Vario” model, operating through two kits that allow the tractor to manage a transport wagon and perform post-harvest tillage
Automation and technological support aimed at enhancing productivity and operational efficiency were the main focus around which Fendt presented its current and future sector vision at Agritechnica 2025.
The future increasingly looks toward autonomous machines, which, according to the leading manufacturers in agricultural mechanization, will be strategic in achieving the productivity standards necessary to ensure food security for a world population approaching nine billion.
While fully autonomous machines are still some way off—though perhaps not as far as one might think—Fendt took a first step in this direction in Hannover with the presentation of an autonomous “800 Vario” tractor, operating through the Ptx Trimble “OutRun” kit. This system allows the tractor to manage a transport wagon autonomously during harvesting operations.
Thanks to an intelligent route-planning system, the tractor finds its way to the combine harvester completely on its own, aligns parallel to it for unloading, and, once the operation is complete, returns to the edge of the field to transfer the harvest to another vehicle, such as a truck, for subsequent transport.
When equipped with the “OutRun Tillage” kit, the tractor can autonomously perform post-harvest tillage, combining the base “OutRun” hardware with an additional component that enables 24/7 operation without an operator on board.
Also developed through the Fendt–Ptx Trimble collaboration is the new “RowPilot” mechanical weed control system. Essentially an AI-based row-guidance solution, it differs from conventional systems by identifying crop rows not based on leaf mass or color, but according to the soil emergence point and the geometric characteristics of the plants. This ensures high operational precision on sloped terrain as well as in fields with dense weeds or uneven crops.
Operational efficiency is further enhanced by the new “ForageQualityCam” for monitoring cutting quality directly from the cab of Katana self-propelled forage harvesters.
The system uses a camera to track crop flow in the discharge chute, capturing 13 frames per second for a high-performance computing unit. This unit analyzes the kernel preparation quality using a specially trained algorithm and transmits real-time results to the operator in the cab, who can then decide whether to maintain current operating parameters or adjust the threshing settings to improve the quality of the chopped product.
Title: Fendt 800 Vario autonomous: the path is set
Translation with ChatGPT
