US firm Monarch Tractor has developed an all-electric and autonomous tractor in a bid to mitigate the effects of climate change and help farmers meet growing demands.
While traditional diesel-powered tractors produce approximately 14-times more emissions than an ordinary car, according to the US firm, the Monarch Tractor has no tailpipe emissions due to its fully electric powertrain.
In addition to cutting harmful emissions, the California-based company designed the vehicle to increase labour productivity and maximise yield to support farmers' existing operations.
The company claims it is the "world's first fully electric, driver optional, smart tractor integrated on a single platform."
Monarch Tractor has released an all-electric and autonomous tractor The tractor is also able to operate with or without a driver, using autonomous technologies to offer driver-assist and driver-optional operations. It can perform pre-programmed tasks without an operator, while its Gesture and Shadow modes enable it to follow a worker on the job.
To prevent accidents when in any of these driverless modes, the tractor features 360-degree cameras that support roll and collision prevention and vision-based Power Take Off (PTO) safety.

Monarch Tractor is not the first company to look to electrifying the machine in order to cut emissions. Rem Koolhaas's research organisation AMO worked with car manufacturer Volkswagen earlier this year to design a concept for an electric tractor for use...