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Are there FOSS tractors? (slrpnk.net)
submitted 8 months ago by to c/farming@slrpnk.net
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if I had to replace my tractor today I honestly have no idea which I would pick, but I think all of them come with irreplaceable software components. Are there any tractors available that have fully reviewable / replaceable control software?

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[–] 13 points 8 months ago (3 children)

These people are trying to reverse engineer Deere tractors, but there hasn't been an update in a few years. Maybe Chinese or Indian tractors? The Indian government has a track record of telling ag companies to stick punitive IP restrictions up their ass, but I'm not sure if any right-to-repair mandates would extend to foreign subsidiaries like Mahindra USA.

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  • [–] [S] 7 points 8 months ago (2 children)

    If I had the hardware to spare (and the time [and the expertise]) I would love to try and hack a tractor and build some free software for it. Eventually I'd like to be able to write simple execution jobs for my tractor (e.g. cut this field, bale that field, etc.) and send it out into the field on its own. I'd also like to avoid paying a subscription fee for the pleasure, which seems like where the manufacturers are leaning at the moment.

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  • [–] 3 points 8 months ago (1 child)

    Yeah I think the future of what you describe is Chinese. They are already making autonomous electric tractors, but its early. Tractors are kind of uniquely suited to carry big heavy batteries and never get too far from the charging station. There are smaller autonomous vehicles that can do simple tasks like mow, and of course all the good drones are Chinese. I don't know if they'll make it open source, but they may not be openly hostile to users like western corporations. Deere and company won't just have a fee, all the telemetry, controls, everything will be tied into their own proprietary cloud shit, mandatory reliance on the dealer network, coupled with warranty service, etc.

    Hopefully it's possible that even if a Chinese vehicle doesn't have FOSS software it's compatible with FOSS route planning software or diagnostics, or whatever. Maybe it's not FOSS out of the box but if you flash it, it won't brick itself because your binary isn't signed with their private key, or some shit. The lack of dealer would suck and of course, the government could just ban Chinese ag equipment when the check from Deere clears.

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  • [–] [S] 4 points 8 months ago

    Yeah China does seem to be out in front at the moment. I think farming is going to change very rapidly over the next while as renewable energy infrastructure builds up and we get better at growing things around or beneath solar panels / wind turbines. I think soon we will have energy independent farms that are increasingly capable of hands off operation, generating higher margins for whoever owns the land and allowing them to undercut farmers using older equipment with higher labor costs, which will accelerate the growth of megafarms. And I think for small farmers trying to stay competitive without signing predatory agreements, we're going to need open source robotics and agricultural management software to keep up with the proprietary systems, or at least close. We'll need to be able to build and maintain our own equipment, in an environment where the best equipment designs are highly specialized for their particular region and crop, and might change (relatively) rapidly as new optimizations are discovered.

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