John Deere is developing an autonomous haulage solution for articulated dump trucks that it says offers autonomy when you need it, and manual operation when you don’t.
Shown on Deere’s 460 P-Tier articulated dump truck at ConExpo 2026, the autonomous haulage kit is designed to bolt onto an existing truck cab. This approach, Senior Product Manager David Veasy says, helps preserve the resale value of the machine while allowing contractors to use autonomous capabilities when appropriate.
To learn more about how it works – and what it could mean for fleet productivity and the industry’s ongoing labor shortage, check out the video above.
While the technology is still in the prototype phase, it draws on Deere’s experience with autonomous tractors and machine control solutions. The system uses a camera-first perception stack to identify people, vehicles, large obstacles and drivable ground, along with StarFire receivers and other proprietary technology. The truck can make decisions in real-time, such as stopping for people or anticipating other vehicles, without operator intervention.
[Watch: Deere’s New Operator-Friendly Articulated Dump Trucks]
Development with co-operators is underway as Deere continues to test and scale the system for a full commercial launch.
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00:00:00:01 - 00:00:22:05
David Veasy
We're excited because we announced at CES 2025 that we are working on our autonomous haulage solution. So at the very top of the truck, you'll see our perception stack, our stack that would bolt on to existing vehicles cabs. And this way you can integrate autonomy when you need it. And you can operate it manually when you don't.
00:00:22:08 - 00:00:48:20
David Veasy
I'm David Veasey, I'm the senior product manager of autonomy for John Deere Construction behind me. We're excited because we have our 460 articulated dump truck. Our dump trucks are used throughout quarry applications as well as in site development and mass excavation, and they are often one of the most expensive pieces of equipment that also drives about the fastest on the job site and staffed by one of the least experienced operators throughout the fleet.
00:00:48:20 - 00:01:12:20
David Veasy
And not only that, they're usually paired in a set of 2 or 3 different at the same time. And as that operator gets more experienced, they often get promoted to a dozer or an excavator. And now you have an open seat. And when that open seat happens, the challenge is you might lose 3,050% of your productivity while you wait to fill that seat with the constrained labor pool.
00:01:12:21 - 00:01:35:09
David Veasy
And that's where it comes in around on the front of the truck, we'll show you our autonomy stack. We leverage our John Deere Enterprise autonomy stack, building on the foundation of the technology we have from our ag division and our self-driving tractors. We utilize camera based perception to help drive our vehicles and work within the operations of our job sites.
00:01:35:16 - 00:01:59:10
David Veasy
So at the very top of the truck, you'll see our perception stack or our stack that would bolt on to existing vehicles, cabs so that you still have a cab when you need it, and you can manually operate when you have those opportunities that are not built into an autonomous mission and utilize the truck as you would, as well as give you a resale market and everything else around having an existing vehicle.
00:01:59:11 - 00:02:33:25
David Veasy
And this way you can integrate autonomy when you need it, and you can operate it manually when you don't. Leveraging our camera first system. We're able to classify different types of objects. The difference between a person, a vehicle, a large object, drivable ground so that the vehicle can make different decisions based on the actual object itself. It can stop for people, it can anticipate a vehicle, or it can route around a
rock without an intervention from an orchestrator or an operator in its autonomous mode.
00:02:33:28 - 00:02:56:21
David Veasy
We also leverage our Starfire, our receivers, we in the entire tech stack that we're able to leverage throughout the enterprise. You'll also see that this technology is built on our solid foundation of machine control that we have learned, and our motor graders and our excavators and our dozers all the way up through our newest and our smart detect loaders that are also in the booth today.
00:02:56:24 - 00:03:14:05
David Veasy
Getting that perception technology in the hands of our customers today. And then we will scale that up in the future for our autonomy solutions, which are currently in development with cooperators currently unreleased from a production state. And we are excited to get it ready to be a solution for our customers.
