PTx Trimble introduces OutRun, the first commercially available autonomous retrofit grain cart solution. It is a self-contained retrofit kit that enables autonomous grain cart operation on tractors with infinitely transmission, such as on a John Deere 8R or 8000R.
The grain cart can be staged or be called for unloading without the need for another driver. The combine operator can also send the grain cart to a predefined truck unload zone for manual unload.
“Every year, one third of all acres in the Midwest of the USA are harvested late, costing farmers thousands of dollars in lost yield,” said Andrew Sunderman, General Manager of PTx Trimble. “Even with farmers working around the clock, crops are sitting, waiting to be harvested. OutRun makes it easy for an operator to run both the combine and the grain cart, which solves a critical need for farmers to leverage and deploy their available labor resources in the most beneficial ways and harvest their crops on time.”
OutRun is designed to be cost effective and easy to use. It is example of PTx Trimble’s commitment to its retrofit-first, mixed-fleet strategy for autonomy. The retrofit kit is both machine and implement agnostic, allowing farmers to benefit from autonomy with existing fleets and varying machine types. Flexible pricing provides scalability with Return On Investment (ROI) on farms of many sizes.
OutRun was launched at the Farm Progress Show in Boone, IA USA, where attendees could learn more and demo the autonomous solution. The retrofit kit is available in a limited capacity for use during harvest in 2024 in Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas and Missouri. OutRun will be available for production release in 2025.
