John Deere unveils autonomous dump truck for quarries

At the CES 2025, the world’s leading tech and consumer electronics show held in Las Vegas, John Deere has showcased its latest iteration of autonomous machines which includes an autonomous dump truck based on the 460 P-Tier Articulated Dump Truck (ADT).

The showcase in 2025 builds on Deere’s autonomous technology first revealed at CES 2022, presenting the company’s second-generation autonomy kit that combines advanced computer vision, AI and cameras to help the machines navigate their environments.

Deere’s 2025 CES display features solutions covering a variety of industries including agriculture, construction, mining and landscaping.

According to the American Farm Bureau Federation, labour is a massive problem across the industries.

In ag, roughly 2.4 million farm jobs need to be filled annually while in construction, 88 per cent of contractors struggle to find skilled labor.

Meanwhile, 86 per cent of landscaping business owners can’t find labour to fill open positions.

“Our agriculture, construction, and commercial landscaping customers all have work that must get done at certain times of the day and year, yet there is not enough available and skilled labor to do the work,” said Jahmy Hindman, Chief Technology Officer at John Deere.

“Autonomy can help address this challenge. That’s why we’re extending our technology stack to enable more machines to operate safely and autonomously in unique and complex environments.

"This will not only benefit our customers, but all of us who rely on them to provide the food, fuel, fiber, infrastructure, and landscaping care that we depend on every day.”

John Deere’s 460 P-Tier Autonomous Articulated Dump Truck (ADT) have been designed for quarry operations. It features John Deere’s second-gen autonomy kit that includes an array of cameras that provide a 360-degree view of what’s around the machine.

The haul truck can continuously evaluate its surroundings and navigate from the loading area to the designated dumping area – which are often on opposite sides of a quarry site requiring the vehicle to navigate challenging terrain.

Depth models ensure the haul truck can not only gauge what an object is, but where it is in relation to the ADT. Advanced sensors and algorithms are used to localise the machine on its road as it follows the path between the load zone and haul zone. During setup, customers can specify load zones, dump zones, and haul routes using the John Deere Operations Center.  

Through the app, users also have access to live video, images, data and metrics, and the ability to adjust various factors like speed. In the event of any job quality anomalies or machine health issues, users will be notified remotely so they can make the necessary adjustments.

Select machines will be autonomy ready from the factory, with the second-generation autonomy kits available for retrofitting on to certain existing machines.

In addition to the 460 P-Tier Autonomous ADT, John Deere also presented its 9RX flagship and 5ML orchard tractors equipped with autonomy kits, as well as a self-driving electric mower for commercial landscaping purposes.