Deere begins using Light AI, which enables the first of its kind computer vision depth perception.

American Firm Seeks to Allay Food Production Labor Shortage with AI Computer Vision

Considering that  ]autonomous trucks already move refrigerators between California and Texas; driverless taxis ply the desert metropolis of Phoenix Arizona, and even last-mile delivery is increasing in the eastern cities, it’s not a surprise that AI has been integrated into tractors and other farm equipment. Nextweb.com explains how John Deere engineers helped developed AI-run driverless tractors.

John Deere is announcing the acquisition of a state-of-the-art algorithm package from AI startup Light.

For those wondering when driverless vehicles will genuinely begin to make their mark on society, the answer is today. Tristen Greene is the author of this piece and he gets right to the point with:

“No, you won’t be seeing green tractors rolling themselves down city streets anytime soon. But the timeline for fully autonomous farming is being massively accelerated. Today’s purchase is all about John Deere’s need for speed — and accuracy, but first, let’s talk about rapid development. This acquisition will not only accelerate the development and deployment of the company’s AI tech, but it’ll also allow the equipment to literally move faster, safely, without human intervention.”

Light, the company Deere is partnering with, uses a computer-vision approach to self-driving that allows the AI system controlling a vehicle to ‘see’ the world similarly to the way biological systems do. Its algorithms allow Deere’s equipment to use industry-standard cameras to achieve unparalleled depth perception to get rid of weeds if you can’t tell how tall they are.

Greene says he disagrees with the choice of using AI and cameras for this project. And he explains his reasons for his opposition to this approach. And he takes a deeper than average dive into Deere’s past projects that weren’t successful.

“Deere’s already made quite a splash in autonomy and automation. Less than a month ago we said it was slowly becoming one of the most important AI companies on the planet. But this acquisition gives us every reason to update that assessment — it’s now quickly becoming the AI company to watch.”

Everyone needs to eat. And, despite the general public’s perception that AI will put people out of work, there’s an ongoing labor shortage in the agricultural world — machines can help. We can really be thankful that AI has been developed to the point of fighting cancer or increasing crop yields around the world.

read more at thenextweb.com