Why American Farmers Are Hacking Their Tractors With Ukrainian Firmware

[dakota port]

Farming has become big business, with some of the machines costing more than $250K. And the computers do a lot more than just manage the engine. Some of these machines have GPS, autopilot and network communications capability. They can drive themselves a lot straighter (or follow a preset pattern) than a human being would drive, which can mean time and crop savings worth many thousands of dollars.

I'm completely against the silly licensing games Deere plays, but the electronics are valuable in some applications.

P.S. I own a nearly 40 year old tractor, and I am a huge fan of it's simplicity. But I'm just cutting grass and scraping a driveway.

I can see that on the larger farms like a industrial gps unit for shorter distances being useful for farmers, the programming shouldn't be so hard to work with that the jd technician need to do all the repairs though

 

[boxer90]

Down in my area I'm seeing mostly Korean and Chinese units now. Tractors, cranes, backhoes, etc. Lots of Doosan.

 

[woodstock]

a lot of car manufacturers already practice these very same methods

Very true, needs to be stopped

 

[JohnnyPlant]

%JD

 

[boxer90]

Very true, needs to be stopped

It won't. This has been the case in the computers industry for ~20 years or so. It's going to expand to cars and everything else now that "tech" is becoming more popular and everyone wants the latest and greatest gizmo BS in their everyday equipment. I remember roughly 10 years ago everyone was talking about switching from IPv4 to IPv6 because we'd need more IP addresses to cover all of the refrigerators, stoves, microwaves, cars, etc that would be connected within the next decade or so.

It's going to grow into where the computer shuts down your vehicle ("for your own protection") unless you go to the dealership every 2-3-5k miles to have a service change and you'll have some monthly/yearly license fee on-top of your existing payment, if any. I expect this is pushed with the self-driving cars that are coming because they'll argue that you won't have to go to the dealership yourself; the car will drive itself. The goal is that you're always paying the company, even if you have a used car that's "paid off".

Technology is great, but it's also bad. There's a reason I horde and use pieces of computer equipment that are 20-30+ years old.

 

[boomdad]

Farming has become big business, with some of the machines costing more than $250K. And the computers do a lot more than just manage the engine. Some of these machines have GPS, autopilot and network communications capability. They can drive themselves a lot straighter (or follow a preset pattern) than a human being would drive, which can mean time and crop savings worth many thousands of dollars.

I'm completely against the silly licensing games Deere plays, but the electronics are valuable in some applications.

P.S. I own a nearly 40 year old tractor, and I am a huge fan of it's simplicity. But I'm just cutting grass and scraping a driveway.

I've got family in Illinois that's got 650K in their combine alone. The GPS makes sure that you're not wasting spray or fertilizer from overlapping. However the other stuff is a bit over the top.

 

[CBH13]

They wanted to do the same thing with regular motor vehicles.

they still are trying, but if that ever managed to happen watch how fast a crack would come out. i could never imagine having to actually take my stuff somewhere else to have it fixed.

but for the tractors time for a megasquirt on steroids

 

[atljetmech]

My Kubota dealership loves me buying factory parts to perform my own maintenance.