Many folks in the electrical market may know Trimble for its 2013 acquisition of Trade Service Corp. to get its electrical product pricing and specification data for distributors and contractors. But Trimble has always had interests far outside the electrical industry, and for instance in recent years ventured into BIM, augmented reality and geospatial information for 3D visualization of construction projects.
A recent acquisition builds on this expertise in using geospatial information for mapping and survey applications. On Aug. 18, Trimble Ventures, the parent company’s corporate venture capital fund, announced an investment in Sabanto Inc., Chicago, an agricultural technology company that utilizes autonomous (driverless) tractors in its Farming as a Service (FaaS) business. According to the press release, “Farmers face a variety of challenges including labor shortages, non-stop field operations, weather and significant capital expenses for agriculture machinery. Sabanto addresses these challenges by providing FaaS through swarms of multiple smaller tractors equipped with its autonomous technology to perform in-field operations. Leveraging a fleet of smaller 60 and 90 HP tractors, the company has autonomously tilled, planted, seeded, weeded, applied and mowed across Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Missouri, Nebraska, Minnesota, North Dakota, Wisconsin and Texas.
“The company's advanced mission control platform has been pivotal in deploying multiple systems for multiple days of non-stop operation and pushing the FaaS concept by planting over 750 acres of corn and soybeans in one season with a single 60 HP tractor.”