Autonomous Driving in Agricultural Machinery: Advancing the Frontier of Precision Agriculture

Increasing global food production to address challenges from population growth, labor shortages, and climate change necessitates a significant enhancement of agricultural sustainability. Autonomous agricultural machinery, a recognized application of precision agriculture, offers a promising solution to boost productivity, resource efficiency, and environmental sustainability. This study presents a systematic review of autonomous driving technologies for agricultural machinery based on 506 rigorously selected publications. The review emphasizes three core aspects: navigation reliability assurance, motion control mechanisms for both vehicles and implements, and actuator fault-tolerance strategies in complex agricultural environments. Applications in farmland, orchards, and livestock farming demonstrate substantial potential. This study also discusses current challenges and future development trends. It aims to provide a reference and technical guidance for the engineering implementation of intelligent agricultural machinery and to support sustainable agricultural transformation.