LIKELY TECHNOLOGICAL TRAJECTORIES IN AGRICULTURAL TRACTORS BY ANALYSING INNOVATIVE ATTITUDES OF FARMERS

This paper analyses current technological innovations in agricultural tractors and their possible future directions. The study here suggests that fruitful innovations in a foreseeable future for tractors are in three main technological trajectories: a) safety and warning systems that enable driver identification, prevent risky manoeuvres, give information to the driver about dangerous situations, and communicate any accident or failure to a business centre or an emergency service (technological trajectory safety oriented); b) comfort for operators that spend a higher number of hours in working with tractors in difficult environmental conditions (technological trajectory comfort oriented); c) several farms have a fragmentation of the cultivated land and higher on-road travelling speed (greater than 40 kph or 25 mph) is a useful technological characteristic required for modern agricultural tractors (technological trajectory speed-oriented). The results of this study, based on attitude of users of agricultural tractors, can provide vital information for supporting strategies of leading firms towards fruitful technological trajectories, more and more important to improve efficiency and safety on farms.