HORSCH and Trimble (NASDAQ: TRMB) announced today a collaboration focused on developing solutions that enable autonomy in agriculture with the goal of building a future for autonomous machines and workflows in the industry.

The collaboration extends beyond autonomously controlling machines, such as the self-propelled crop protection sprayers, to full workflow automation from the office to the field. This relationship integrates Trimble's established autonomy expertise in guidance systems, path planning and in-field process automation with HORSCH's fleet of machines. 

The first phase will bring automation to the complex planning, machine control and logistical challenges faced by sprayer operators to improve machine performance and reduce operating errors. This functionality can significantly reduce the driver's workload, while still allowing them to intervene at any time. In the long term, this technology establishes a basis for operating fully autonomous machines.

HORSCH and Trimble have successfully collaborated on implementing control technologies and are extending this to include full machine control solutions. The companies are currently implementing a high level of automation and driver support with steering systems. With this increase in automation, a driver can perform additional in-cab tasks during active field work, such as the required documentation, planning and coordination of work processes. 

"Combining the forward-thinking nature of HORSCH with Trimble's cutting-edge autonomous technology creates an opportunity for the companies to develop innovative applications for the OEM and Trimble's agriculture network," said Finlay Wood, business area director for Trimble Autonomous Solutions. "We are building new customer-focused solutions as part of our existing connected farm ecosystem to deliver a unique and compelling solution for our customers—simplifying the complex, logistical and operational challenges of modern agriculture."

"The unique opportunity with this collaboration is not that we are presenting a future utopia but that we are moving step-by-step towards autonomy in a pragmatic, consistent manner," said Theo Leeb, managing director for HORSCH. "We consider automation in agriculture to be one of our next key technologies, and our goal is to ultimately deliver a platform of various applications to help farmers meet the challenges of the future."

About HORSCH

The family-owned company HORSCH is one of the world's leading manufacturers of modern and innovative agricultural technology. The focus is on the development of products for soil cultivation, sowing, crop protection and hybrid farming to improve sustainability. Around 1,800 employees worldwide stand for "farming with passion" from production to management. Contact and exchange with customers worldwide has always been a top priority at HORSCH. Due to this high level of customer contact, HORSCH is a thought leader within the agriculture industry, focusing on the issues facing farmers and anticipating the needs for their future. In order to continue to meet these future demands on agriculture, HORSCH is constantly working on new developments, which are also in use on its own farms with several thousand hectares of arable land. For more information, visit: www.horsch.com.

About Trimble Agriculture

Trimble's Agriculture Division provides solutions that solve complex technology challenges across the entire agricultural landscape. The solutions enable farmers and advisors to allocate scarce resources to produce a safe, reliable food supply in a profitable and environmentally sustainable manner. Covering all seasons, crops, terrains and farm sizes, Trimble solutions can be used on most equipment on the farm, regardless of manufacturer and production year. To enable better decision making, Trimble offers technology integration that allows farmers to collect, share, and manage information across their farms, while providing improved operating efficiencies in the agricultural value chain. Trimble solutions include guidance and steering; grade control, water management; flow and application control; harvest solutions; desktop and cloud-based data management; and correction services. For more information on Trimble Agriculture, visit: agriculture.trimble.com.

Trimble in Autonomy

For more than 20 years, Trimble has been connecting the physical and digital worlds in agriculture, construction, and mining with its automation technologies. These scalable solutions and services enable the next generation of autonomous functionality to improve productivity and safety. Trimble has been at the forefront of positioning innovation for over 35 years, providing autonomous solutions for off-road machines such as tractors and haulers. Positioning is the foundation for helping transform how the world leverages autonomy through a robust suite of solutions, which include GPS/GNSS, truthing, inertial, dead-reckoning, machine control, sensor fusion and more. For more, visit:  https://positioningservices.trimble.com/industries/automotive.

About Trimble

Trimble is transforming the way the world works by delivering products and services that connect the physical and digital worlds. Core technologies in positioning, modeling, connectivity and data analytics enable customers to improve productivity, quality, safety and sustainability. From purpose-built products to enterprise lifecycle solutions, Trimble software, hardware and services are transforming industries such as agriculture, automotive, construction, geospatial and transportation. For more information about Trimble (NASDAQ: TRMB), visit:  www.trimble.com.