Machine control

Off-highway equipment is being dragged along the technology curve toward autonomy.

Autonomous vehicles seemed to be on our doorstep fifty years ago. The concept faded over the next few decades, only to resurface strongly in the 1990s as electronics mounted an assault on the industry. Today, global positioning, sonic, laser, and optical systems combined with advanced electronics allow the type of machine control envisaged so long ago, even if, currently, a person is still needed in the machine.

According to Tim Kramer, General Manager of TSD, a joint venture between Topcon and Sauer-Danfoss, machine control “started back in the ′60s when paving machines got electronics, but development was slow,” he said. “For a long time, electronics had to compete with hydraulic and mechanical technologies. It took a while for electronics to become cost effective, and for electronics to offer enough features to offset the price differential.”