SAE EPR2021029

Agricultural vehicles often drive along the same terrain day after day or year after year. Yet, they still must detect if a moveable object, such as another vehicle or an animal, happens to be on their path or if environmental conditions have caused muddy spots or washouts. Obstacle detection is one of the major missing pieces that can remove humans from highly automated agricultural machines today and enable the autonomous vehicles of the future.

Unsettled Topics in Obstacle Detection for Autonomous Agricultural Vehicles examines the challenges of environmental object detection and collision prevention, including air obscurants, holes and soft spots, prior maps, vehicle geometry, standards, and close contact with large objects.