Inside John Deere’s Autonomous Stack: A Tech Buzz Interview With Deanna Kovar
At CES 2026, The Tech Buzz sat down with Deanna Kovar, President of Worldwide Agriculture and Turf for Production and Precision Agriculture at John Deere, to understand how autonomy developed for farming is now shaping construction, road building, and industrial equipment.
What stood out immediately was scale. A modern John Deere combine contains 18,000 parts, weighs 60,000 pounds, and runs on 70M lines of code. Every second, it processes 250 corn plants, separating 156,000 kernels and routing material precisely to support both harvest quality and soil health for the next season. This is heavy machinery operating with the precision of a data system.
Automation Built for the Real World
Kovar walked us through how autonomy works inside today’s combines. Cameras inspect grain quality in real time, checking for cracked kernels and foreign material. The system continuously adjusts five critical internal settings to keep output high and losses low. Computer vision and machine learning run these decisions automatically, reducing the need for constant manual input.
Beyond the machine itself, John Deere connects equipment through the John Deere Operations Center. Combines communicate directly with tractors and grain carts using machine-to-machine links. During unloading, the combine controls the tractor’s position to prevent spillage and maximize efficiency. Stereo cameras and satellite imagery are combined to predict crop volume ahead of the machine, adjusting speed to stay productive without clogging or damage.
Operators remain central. With GPS-guided AutoTrac and automated speed control, their role shifts toward safety oversight and system monitoring. Autonomy removes repetitive adjustments so people can focus on judgment and situational awareness.
Autonomy and Labor Reality
Kovar was clear about why autonomy matters. Rural labor is harder to find. Harvest windows are tight. Conditions change hour by hour. Automation helps farms complete work on time without depending on scarce skilled labor. The goal is reliability and continuity, not replacement.
John Deere has automated combine functions for 25 years, with the latest systems representing the most advanced version to date. Fully removing the operator from a combine remains a safety challenge due to limited visibility through dense crops. Other areas such as tillage and grain carts are already moving further toward autonomy.
