Unmanned Ground Vehicles in Agriculture: State of Art and Future Perspectives of the Safety Performance Regulation

Robotic and automated applications have recently become a significant concern in agriculture. This study aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of existing regulation in Europe for agricultural unmanned ground vehicles (UGV) and evaluate contemporary testing procedures that define the level of safety performance of UGVs. For the first time in Europe, a legal act, the European Regulation 1230/2023, includes “autonomous mobile machinery”. This term refers to mobile machinery capable of operating in an autonomous mode, ensuring all essential safety functions within its travel and working area without the permanent interaction of an operator. Consequently, the regulation anticipates requirements related to automation and robotics, including machine learning and artificial intelligence. The standard EN ISO 18497:2024 specifies principles for the design of partially automated, semi-autonomous and autonomous machinery for agricultural field operations. While countries have drafted testing protocols for UGVs to assess field and safety performance, an internationally recognized certification process is still lacking. Notable test protocols include the Japanese “Main Test Methods and Criteria related to Autonomous Agri-machinery,” which covers equipment such as tractors and rice transplanters, and the French Agricultural Robot Performance Assessment (ARPA) project. These protocols developed in Japan and France serve as a valuable starting point for conducting tests and comparing results.