Mahindra & Mahindra's (M&M) international farm equipment subsidiary made headlines on Tuesday by unveiling its first ever driverless tractor. The company made another significant move in global farming equipment space on Wednesday by acquiring 100 percent stake in Erkunt Traktor Sanayii and 80 percent in Erkunt Sanayii for Rs 735 crore.
Erkunt, established in 2003, is a Turkish tractor brand in Ankara. Erkunt Traktor is one of the leading tractor makers in Turkey. The country is Europe's largest tractor market and globally commands a three percent market share in the agri-machinery industry.
M&M forayed to Turkish market in January by buying 75 percent stake in Hisarlar. So, this is M&M's second tractor acquisition in Turkey in 2017. The move comes in line with M&M's plan to double its global revenue to $5 billion by 2019.
Meanwhile, back in India, M&M has revealed its first ever driverless tractor. Developed at the Mahindra Research Valley in Chennai, the driverless tractor technology will be integrated with a range of tractors from 20 HP to 100 HP over a period of time.
Unique features of the Mahindra's driverless tractor starts with Autosteer, a GPS-based technology that enables a tractor to travel along a straight line. Auto-head land turn function enables the tractor to orient itself along adjacent rows for continuous operation without any steering input from the farmer. The Auto-implement lift function automatically lifts the work tool from the ground at the end of a row and lowers the tool after the tractor has oriented itself for operation at the next row.
In addition, the driverless tractor is also equipped with practical features such as Geofence lock that prevents the tractor from going outside the boundaries of the farm, control via tablet user interface and remote engine start-stop.
