Written by Gwen Hoheisel, August 2021
With driverless tractors applying pesticides now a reality in Washington State, the WSDA Pesticide Management Division has already created their first “Guidance” handout. This document outlines the primary requirements an applicator should be following, no matter the application equipment. Currently, the regulations are very similar to manned (or standard) tractors/sprayers in that operators must ensure there is no off-target drift and recommendations of proper calibration are given. As autonomous tractors are used more and tractors respond to programming scenarios and unplanned situations, WSDA may augment this guidance as needed.
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