Driverless tractors and intelligent excavators: how the digital revolution is changing farm & construction equipment as we know it
New generation of machines will make farming and building processes smarter, safer, and greener – and EU rules will need to adapt
Brussels, 23 September 2015, Driverless tractors and intelligent excavators – digital technologies are fundamentally changing the way we produce, drive, and use farm and construction machines and the world around them. This was the focus of the conference “Smart Regulation for Smart Machines” held on 23 September 2015 in Brussels by the European industry associations for agricultural machinery and construction equipment, CEMA and CECE.
The dramatic speed and depth of the digital transformation can best be seen by looking at smart machines in operation today. Thanks to ICT integration, a tractor is already able to drive and work pretty much by itself, saving farmers valuable time and money: “We hear every day about self-driving cars but, truth is, in our sector, we’ve had them for years. In fact, it’s probably fair to say that the agricultural machinery industry is one of the largest producers of autonomous vehicles in the world”, said CEMA President Richard Markwell.
The rapidly growing ability of machines to collect, transmit and analyse huge amounts of data on the go is making working processes smarter, safer, and greener. The digging function of an intelligent excavator, for instance, is increasingly automatized. Thanks to such automated precision, errors and machine down-time in operation can be reduced, which saves time, fuel, and costs. “For our customers, digitization means greater comfort, safer operations and significant cost savings. For society, it means greater sustainability and more environmental protection”, underlined CECE President Eric Lepine.
Wanted: a smart regulatory framework – Digit@l Manifesto calls for policy action
When it comes to mastering the transition towards higher-value digitised machines and processes, EU legislation has a prominent role to play. “Looking at the truly transformative journey that lies ahead, our members and customers need a smart regulatory framework – smarter in the sense that it structurally supports innovation and use of digital machine technology in our sectors, and does not act as an unintended barrier”, said the Presidents upon the presentation of a joint Manifesto that defines five priority areas for future policy action. In the document, CECE and CEMA call on the EU to:
- Devise smart regulation for smart machine technology
- Create a true and reliable Digital Single Market
- Use relevant EU tools and programmes (CAP, European Investment Plan) to incentivize digital technology investment in agriculture and construction
- Improve broadband infrastructure in rural and urban Europe for rapidly growing data flows
- Support and encourage the development of digital skills
Find out more about the 2015 CECE-CEMA Summit at: www.cece-cema-summit.eu
