Autonomous Agricultural Vehicles: Technologies, Challenges, and Future Trends

Agricultural vehicles are rapidly evolving toward intelligent, connected, and autonomous systems driven by advances in artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, sensing technologies, and precision agriculture. The next-generation platforms have the strong potential to improve agricultural productivity, operational efficiency, sustainability, and labour shortages in modern farming environments. In this talk, we will present a comprehensive overview of recent advances and developments in intelligent agricultural vehicles, including autonomous tractors, robotic field vehicles, intelligent spraying systems, agricultural drones, and AI-enabled perception and navigation technologies. We will also discuss key challenges related to perception in complex outdoor environments, robust autonomous control, safety, energy efficiency, and real-world deployment. Emerging and future trends toward fully autonomous and data-driven smart farming systems are also highlighted.