Revolutionary Etsi Connected Tractor Alerts Nearby Drivers of Its Presence

This past week, Etsi showcased a pioneering demonstration at their Sophia Antipolis headquarters— a tractor wirelessly connected to a car. Using a communication protocol standardized by Etsi, the tractor sends warnings to nearby road vehicles to help prevent accidents. These alerts are given from a distance of up to 1 km, helping drivers avoid the frequent collisions with farm vehicles both day and night.

Farm vehicle accidents cause nearly 400 fatalities each year in Europe, particularly in rural areas. Drivers often don’t see tractors in time because they move much slower and tend to occupy the entire road, making it hard to brake or swerve out of the way quickly. Farm machinery manufacturers aim to cut these fatal accidents in half by 2035.

The demonstration featured a John Deere tractor equipped with a communication platform from Sensivov. Both companies are Etsi members. Christophe Gossard, head of European regulatory affairs at John Deere, explained that the European Commission’s wish to enhance road safety between farm and other vehicles prompted John Deere’s actions. By installing modems in their tractors and ensuring that different road vehicles and their communication systems could talk to each other, John Deere joined forces with Etsi, the only European body with the required expertise.

Etsi’s OneM2M partnership project enabled the vehicles to communicate through visual and auditory warnings. This demo was part of Etsi’s annual IoT event, which included a week of conferences, workshops, and demonstrations that attracts experts worldwide to discuss the latest innovations.

Luis Jorge Romero, Etsi’s director general, mentioned that while Etsi is well-known for its telecommunications standards, the expansion into 5G and IoT has brought in new members from diverse fields like agriculture, smart cities, ehealth, and connected transport. He emphasized the role of ICT in integrating smart devices into daily life at home and work.

Etsi stands out for offering an open and inclusive environment for developing, approving, and testing global standards for ICT-enabled systems, applications, and services across various industries. As a not-for-profit organization, Etsi has over 850 member organizations from 66 countries across five continents. These members range from large and small companies to research entities, academia, government, and public organizations. Etsi is one of the three bodies officially recognized by the EU for standardization in Europe.