What can self-driving tractors teach us about distracted driving

Imagine a future in which cars are so smart they'll have the ability to protect us from our own bad choices.According to James Poffberg, a farmer in Humboldt, Sask., that future isn't as far away as we might think.

During the Cross Country Checkup conversation about distracted driving, Poffbergpointed out thatself-driving cars may bethe solution to our problem, as self-driving tractors have already changed his life as a farmer.

"We're not going to be driving in a couple of years," Poffberg toldCheckuphost Duncan McCue.

Poffberg describes the software being used to run self-driving tractors on his farm as "perfect." Year after year the technology never lets him down. The only time there's a change in the tractor's course is when he programs it in.

"I can go on a map from sevenyears ago and it's bang on. Our sprayers have been using the same paths for years now," he said.

Poffberg is one of a growing number of farmers in the world switching over to automated machines. The tractor Poffberg uses is only self-steering and still needs a human monitoring from inside it, but companies like Autonomous Solutions, Inc., are developing technology that would take away the need for a person in the tractor. A press release from the company last week said: "At a farmer's command, autonomous tractors can drive from a parking area along private roads to a field and begin work without any intervention."

In a follow-up interview, Poffberg told Cross Country Checkup that, while he thinks automated vehicles are inevitable, they will engender pushback at first. His uncle refused to use a self-steering tractor on his farm initially because it wasn't the way it had been done in the past. But after he saw his nephew saving a bundle of money with it he switched all his vehicles over to the self-steering technology. The new tractor uses every drop of pesticide efficiently when it sprays by staying in a perfect line, unlike a human who could accidently overlap the same sections on a field.

The technology makes it easier on hard-working farm hands who can put in up to 16 hours in the field. In fact, a completely self-driving tractor, like the ones being developed at ASI, could work 24 hours a day, making life on the farm almost effortless.

"My employees could make it look like they're working and, as far as I'm concerned, they could be sleeping," Poffberg laughed.

Besides ease and precision, Poffberg's uncle had another reason to give in to the technology all the farms around him were using it. To turn his nose up at the tractor forces him to fall behind everyone else, and that could mean a huge loss in profits.

Unmanned vehicles will soon leave the farmer's fields and start invading our streets and driveways. Google's self-driving cars are already on the road in four American cities. The company claims its car is able to tirelessly and accurately detect obstacles (even "plastic bags and rogue birds") that are 220 metres away. According to Google's website, 94 per cent of all traffic accidents in the U.S. are due to human error. The cars are aiming to be better than us at driving, but also better for us.

"I want to do the Captain Kirk thing and say 'Engage', and just go," said Poffberg about the self-driving car.

His young son, heard happily chatting away in the background, came to Poffberg's mind when thinking about the future of our roads.

"My son could own a car and not need a driver's licence. He might not even be driving to work - he might be flying to work with drones," he said.

Regardless of how people feel about this automated technology, Poffberg sees them as inescapable for two reasons: "It's money-saving and life-saving."