Chinese agriculture technology company XAG announces the launch of APC2 AutoPilot Console globally, an automated steering solution for hands-free farm operation. This solution uses a mobile app for smart control, making it easier for farmers to adopt automated driving technology and manage their agricultural equipment.
Automatic steering technology is the key to enhancing productivity in farming. But currently, many small and mid-sized farms cannot access this new technology due to high initial investment costs, technical complexity, and maintenance issues. The release of APC2 AutoPilot Console is expected to lower the entry barriers with its cost-effectiveness and easy operation.
The XAG APC2’s all-in-one design integrates the RTK antenna, sensors, and processors into one main unit, making it easier to install and maintain. This reduces the manufacturing and usage costs of the product. The APC2 is also equipped with IP67-rated waterproof and dustproof protection, making it more durable and reducing maintenance costs. With a smartphone, users can control the farm machinery to achieve automatic route planning and enjoy new features through OTA upgrades.
To achieve centimeter-level precision, the XAG APC2 comes equipped with RTK navigation technology. It can deliver 2.5 cm accuracy for high-precision tasks such as seeding, ridging, and furrowing. This minimizes repetitive operations caused by travelling errors of the farm machine and maximize land use by avoiding skip and overlap. It also features IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit) sensors that allow for terrain compensation, maintaining accuracy even on rough terrain by detecting the slope of the ground.
The XAG APC2 can be controlled effortlessly via a smartphone. The XAG Autopilot App provides a variety of job profiles and convenient functions to address diverse agricultural needs. It allows operators to execute straight lines, curves, diagonal harrowing, and other tasks on various terrains and field shapes. With one-click OTA (over-the-air) updates, new features can be added. Additionally, path and plot information generated can be shared with XAG’s agricultural drones.