Machine Support Specialist

John Deere expands repair toolkit with AI, mobile access. John Deere is scaling up the digital tools it offers customers to diagnose, repair and maintain their own equipment following a string of right-to-repair lawsuits and settlements. The move builds on the company's service platform launched in July 2025 which has already attracted thousands of users, Kelli Sullivan (pictured), group product manager for the company's Operations Center ProService platform said. Around 75% of sales for it so far have been at the entry-level individual pin tier, priced at $195 annually. Speaking during a live demonstration near a field sprayer earlier this week, Sullivan explained this reflects customers testing the tool before committing further. Other licence types available include an organisational fleet tier covering all machines an operator owns across John Deere's industry segments, and a service business tier for repair shops, priced between $2,995 and $5,995 depending on the equipment covered. Central to its upgrade is a new AI-driven manual search function built into the platform. Sullivan said the system draws on the full library of operator, technical and repair manuals tied to a specific machine, in some cases equivalent to roughly six feet of stacked paper documentation. It answers natural-language queries and returns step-by-step guidance, rather than requiring customers to search by keyword. Responses typically take between 15 and 30 seconds depending on the volume of content associated with the machine. Sullivan noted the assistant was built in-house by the company. The launch also introduced Machine Health Insights, a predictive alerting feature which uses data shared by customers who opt-in to flag potential downtime events or failures before they occur. Customers with a ProService licence gain access to an interactive, decision-tree style walkthrough which guides them through addressing flagged issues, including relevant visuals and any required service tools. Sullivan detailed a companion mobile application, Equipment Mobile, which is available free of charge for Android and Apple devices. The app mirrors the equipment list and account data found in Deere's Operations Center platform. It allows customers to view machine information, register warranties, check and (in some cases) perform software updates remotely, and manage maintenance plans which automatically enrols new equipment based on prescribed service intervals. Customers can adjust those intervals to suit heavy duty use cases. They can also add parts identified during maintenance checks directly to their cart on Deere's e-commerce site and complete purchases without leaving the app. Sullivan said Deere is developing a dedicated service-focused version of Equipment Mobile, more closely mirroring the Service Overview experience found in Operations Center, though she did not give a firm release date. Software updates can be delivered remotely or via a wired electronic data link connector. Addressing questions about right-to-repair, Sullivan said customers retain full choice over how they service their equipment, whether independently, through an authorised dealer, or via an independent repair business. She added Deere continues to support software licences for machines up to 48 years old, though available functionality narrows for older equipment given the limited onboard technology. Right-to-repair The launch of these tools comes amid a string of right-to-repair disputes. The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and attorneys general from five states sued Deere in January 2025, alleging it withheld full repair software from farmers and independent shops while reserving it for authorised dealers, maintaining a monopoly over repair services. Reuters reported Deere agreed to separately pay $99 million in April 2026 to settle a related 2022 class action suit, a deal some right-to-repair advocates criticised as limited. In July 2026, Deere agreed an FTC settlement requiring it to provide farmers and independent repair providers with access to the same repair resources available to authorised dealers for 10 years, with compliance obligations monitored by the agency. Deere has denied wrongdoing but called the settlement good news for its customers. A separate suit over construction and forestry equipment remains pending in an Illinois federal court. Choice Sullivan positioned the company's digital tools as central to customer choice. "It's all about the customer's right to choose what they want to do," she said. "They can choose to do it themselves with the tool. They can choose to use an independent repair shop, and they can choose to go to their John Deere dealer. It's up to them." She added the broader strategy traces back to a campaign the company launched last year. "That's all about how we're empowering our customers to truly run their machines their way."

John Deere at GaLaBau 2026: broad range of utility vehicle and compact tractor solutions. 2 September 2026, 08:10 * John Deere will showcase utility vehicles and compact tractors at GaLaBau 2026, targeting municipalities and public-sector grounds teams. * The GS Gator(TM) range offers petrol and electric models, with the electric version designed for quiet, emission-free operation in urban and noise-sensitive areas. * The updated 1 Series compact tractor features a new cab with HVAC, improved lighting, refined controls, and enhanced connectivity for year-round municipal use. * John Deere's municipal solutions will be exhibited at Hall 9, Stand 316, with experts available to discuss tailored configurations. Petrol and electric options support everyday efficiency across public spaces. At GaLaBau 2026, John Deere will present a selection of utility vehicles and compact tractors designed to support the varied and year-round demands of municipalities, public-sector grounds teams and facility operators. GS Gator(TM): practical transport for daily municipal tasks. A central feature on the stand is the GS Gator(TM) range, available with either petrol or electric power, allowing municipalities to select the most suitable solution for their operating environment. The electric GS Gator with its 5-kW engine and a 5.3-kWh lithium-ion battery is aimed at noise-sensitive and urban settings, offering quiet operation and zero local emissions. This makes it well suited to parks, residential areas, sports facilities and early-morning work, while still providing practical payload, towing, and cargo capability for tools, materials and equipment. The petrol GS Gator offers familiar re-fuelling and extended runtime for longer shifts or sites where charging infrastructure is limited. Both versions share a compact 125 cm body width, enabling access through narrow paths and gates commonly found in public spaces. With strong payload and towing figures of 544 kg and 680 kg, respectively, the GS Gator supports a wide range of everyday tasks, from transporting tools and waste to supporting maintenance crews across dispersed locations. Compact tractors for year-round versatility. John Deere will introduce the latest generation of its 1 Series compact tractor, building on a proven platform with enhanced comfort, connectivity, and usability features tailored to the needs of municipal fleets and public works departments. Designed to support year-round operation from a single machine platform, the updated 1 Series incorporates new comfort-focused options, including an all-new cab with a full HVAC system. These upgrades help operators remain productive and comfortable during both winter maintenance activities and summer grounds work. Visibility has been improved through an upgraded lighting package, supporting safer operation during early-morning and late-day tasks. The operator environment has also been refined, with updated interfaces and optimized control layouts that simplify machine operation across multiple users - an important consideration for shared municipal equipment pools. In addition, the new 1 Series integrates expanded connectivity capabilities, enabling machine monitoring and maintenance tracking. These functions support improved operational efficiency while allowing municipal workshops and fleet supervisors to better oversee equipment usage, service scheduling, and overall machine condition. With these updates, John Deere continues to evolve the 1 Series compact tractor to meet the changing demands of municipalities seeking a reliable, versatile solution for year-round applications. See the line-up at GaLaBau 2026. Municipal solutions from John Deere will be displayed at Hall 9, Stand 316, with its product experts available to discuss configurations for parks, sports facilities and public-space maintenance.

Feature: John Deere debuts AI assistant to put farm data to work. Agricultural and heavy-equipment maker John Deere unveiled a conversational AI assistant for its operations centre, pairing the launch with a data pledge and new AI organisation aimed at turning farm data into actionable insight. The company introduced JD, a generative AI assistant which answers natural-language questions using a farmer's own field, machine and operational data. It marks the company's most ambitious push yet to turn more than a decade of accumulated field, machine and operational data into something farmers can act on by asking a question. JD can compare fuel use, determine the best planting windows, sprayer productivity or harvest timing without requiring farmers to comb through dashboards and reports. Jackson Baca, group product marketing manager at John Deere, explained farmers want "a trusted data scientist dedicated to their operation," available anytime, which understands their own farm rather than "a theoretical one". The company's Operations Center is a cloud-based digital hub which connects machines, operators and fields to track performance, plan work and analyse data in near-real time. It largely uses 4G to connect to a cloud, but it can also access Starlink connectivity in remote areas. 3 layers, one assistant Baca said JD combines a user interface, an assistant layer which orchestrates responses and a knowledge layer built on each customer's fields, machines and operational history. At launch JD will be available in Operations Center Web, Operations Center Mobile and Equipment Mobile, with the company planning to extend to the G5 in-cab display, a touchscreen used in Deere machines. It noted the assistant is governed by a formal "constitution" covering truth and clarity, human control, safety, professionalism and trust. While JD currently focuses on delivering insights, its roadmap points towards the assistant acting on a farmer's behalf, including building work plans and sending them directly to operators in the fields. In a video shown at the company's event, Shawn Feikema, a third-generation row crop and feedlot farmer in Luverne, Minnesota, explained JD shifted him from manually hunting for trial data to asking a question and receiving a compiled answer. Iowa farmer Kelly Garrett said his son used AI to build a harvest schedule from variety and planting-date data already logged in the system, producing a field-by-field sequence and combine travel path. Garrett has since added soil test results and disease history so AI can help match seed varieties to fields. "Adopting AI is the next round of technology that can make us more efficient," he explained. Early access John Deere is opening an early access programme for JD today (1 September) at the Farm Progress Show in Iowa, where US agriculture customers can join a waiting list for the tool. John Deere expects JD to reach general availability later this year, according to Deanna Kovar, president of Deere's Worldwide Ag & Turf Division. Baca said the phased early access rollout is intended to give Deere feedback on the assistant's performance ahead of broader launch. The company plans to extend JD's capabilities beyond production agriculture into turf, construction, roadbuilding and forestry over time. Baca did not detail which large language models power JD, but noted it can pivot to alternatives as needed. "We use various large language models and then we have the different agents all within that, and they're all focused on different tasks," he said. Kovar told Mobile World Live once the early access programme is completed, a JD icon will appear in the top-right corner of Operations Center. JD will be free to John Deere customers. Baca added JD can be retrofitted onto any model of John Deere machinery. Data governance JD's launch was paired with a broader data governance message from the executives. Kovar described farmers' data as "an extension of their work" which belongs to them, stating the value of any insight depends on farmers trusting they remain in control. She explained users can choose which third parties access their data, review connections, adjust permissions or stop data flow at any time. Than Hartsock, VP of precision upgrades and head of its newly formed AI Data Accelerator, formally announced the company's Farmer Data Commitment, a 10-point pledge covering how farm data is used. The pledge states farmers control their data, Deere does not sell it, data is used only as described in company agreements, and dealers and connected partners must maintain transparent data practices. It also states farmers can turn off sharing at any time, and that farm data is never used for commodity trading or speculation. Hartsock positioned JD and the data commitment as two halves of the same strategy rather than separate initiatives. "Together, they define how Deere approaches farmers' data," he said. He closed by describing the moment as the start of a new era, one where farmers can engage with their information more intuitively and "turn years of data into decisions and action in ways that simply weren't possible before".