LS

■ Plans to improve positioning accuracy of autonomous tractors with integrated navigation system
■ LS Mtron, now selling level 3.5 autonomous tractors, accelerating towards level 4 full automation
■Lee Sang-min Head of the Tractor Business Division Lee Sang-min: "The integrated navigation system is an essential technology for the accuracy and reliability of autonomous tractors. With more advanced technology, we will achieve complete automation of tractors."

LS Group's industrial machinery and advanced components specialist, LS Mtron (CEO Shin Chai-ho), announced on the 16th that it has signed an MOU with Hanwha Aerospace to develop fully autonomous tractor technology.
Lee Sang-min, head of the Tractor Division at LS Mtron, Yoo Ji-hoon, head of the Tractor Research Institute, Kim Kwang-jin, head of the Navigation Business Center at Hanwha Aerospace, and Lim Jong-nam, head of the Navigation Development Team, along with other officials from both companies attended the signing ceremony held on the 14th at the LS Mtron Jeonju plant in Wanju-gun, Jeollabuk-do.

Through this MOU, the two companies will conduct joint research to develop fully autonomous tractor technology based on an integrated navigation system. The integrated navigation system is a technology that combines a satellite navigation system  and an inertial navigation system  to provide more precise location information. An autonomous tractor equipped with an integrated navigation system can continue to operate to the final position without stopping, even when GPS signal errors occur, by estimating its direction and location.

In the future, LS Mtron will derive specifications for navigation sensors to optimize the performance of autonomous tractors, while Hanwha Aerospace will validate the performance of navigation systems for tractor autonomy and sensor fusion.

LS Mtron successfully commercialized the first autonomous working tractor in South Korea in 2021. For the past three years, we have been selling a level 3.5 tractor equipped with obstacle detection and emergency stop functions, core technologies which are essential for fully autonomous unmanned operation. LG Mtron plans to accelerate the development of the level 4 fully autonomous tractor by collaborating with Hanwha Aerospace, which has accumulated over 30 years of experience in developing navigation systems for defense.

Lee Sang-min, head of the LS Mtron Tractor Division, said, "The integrated navigation system is an essential technology for the accuracy and reliability of autonomous tractors," and added, "Through this MOU, we will achieve complete automation of tractors with more advanced technology."