Daedong Delivers First AI Tractor to Customer, with Work Time Expected to Drop by More Than 10%
-. Customer Park Sang-beom cultivates 15,000 pyeong of green onions and onions in Shinan, Jeollanam-do, and has struggled with issues such as operator fatigue and inconsistent work quality
-. Park decided to adopt the AI tractor after watching a field demonstration, expecting it to improve work efficiency and reduce safety concerns
-. Powered by vision AI, the tractor delivers precise and stable autonomous operation without requiring an operator on board
Daedong has marked a major milestone in the commercialization of Agricultural Physical AI with the delivery of its AI tractor.
Daedong (Co-CEOs Kim Jun-sik and Won Yu-hyun), a leader in future agriculture, announced on June 13 that it had delivered an AI tractor equipped with vision AI-based unmanned autonomous operation technology to a large-scale farm in Sinan, Jeollanam-do, and held a handover ceremony. This marks the first time an AI tractor has been deployed for actual customer use at a farming site in Korea.
The first customer, Park Sang-beom, grows green onions and onions on a 5-hectare farm, or about 15,000 pyeong, in Sinan, Jeollanam-do. According to Park, he had previously used a low-horsepower tractor that he operated himself, and rotary tillage alone took more than a full day. He had also struggled with accumulated fatigue from long working hours, safety concerns, the inconvenience of attaching and removing attachments, and inconsistent work quality. Park decided to purchase the AI tractor after seeing its performance firsthand at a demonstration event for farmers in March.
At the handover ceremony, Park said, “When I used an existing autonomous operation kit, I saw work time reduced by around 10%. After seeing Daedong’s AI tractor demonstration in person, I decided to purchase it because I believed it could deliver much greater gains in work efficiency. I also expect it to ease the safety concerns I had when using the previous autonomous operation kit.”
The AI tractor uses Agricultural Physical AI, which Daedong defines as agricultural field robot technology, to recognize and interpret its surroundings and carry out farm work autonomously. Powered by vision AI using six cameras, the tractor analyzes its surroundings in 360 degrees, detecting field boundaries and obstacles while also identifying the type of attachment mounted on the vehicle. Based on this information, it determines the most suitable work method for each field condition and performs the task autonomously. It also applies MLOps, or Machine Learning Operations, allowing its autonomous operation and work precision to continue improving as more field data is accumulated.
A key advantage of the AI tractor is that it can deliver more precise and stable work quality than a human operator through precision autonomous control, even without an operator on board. This is especially important for vegetable crops such as onions, garlic, chili peppers and cucumbers, where straight, evenly formed ridges and furrows are critical for planting seeds or seedlings. Daedong’s AI tractor maintains consistent spacing and straight-line accuracy, creating ridges and furrows that are as straight and even as a roadway. This helps reduce unnecessary rework and wasted time in the field.
