Brazil relies heavily on it's sugar cane, and so does the rest of the World. Brazil accounts for over 20% of the global sugar cane production and over 40% of world exports, leading by a large margin in the global sugar supply. Something like 33 million tons of sugar or more a year, depending on the weather, is produced in Brazil. Over two-thirds of which, gets exported for the rest of the world to enjoy.
Needless to say, any major innovations or disruptions to Brazilian sugar production is felt far and wide in sweet tooth's everywhere, and deeply in a struggling Brazilian economy.
Recently, Volvo released news of a self-driving truck that will increase young cane growth by upwards of 4%, amounting to tens of thousands of USD per truck, per season.
The self-driving truck, which is used to transport newly harvested sugar-cane, is steered with great precision through the fields in order to avoid damaging the young plants that will form the following year’s crop. This process is what would normally account for the 4% loss, due to human error and the inability to drive with the precision of robotic vehicles.
This is another great step for the disruption of an outdated transportation and auto industry. Continued growth and development outside of simple taxi and luxury car manufacturing is an incredible sign for the rapidity at which these technologies are growing. Don't get me wrong, personal vehicles and taxi services will lead the way in global headlines and home front disruption for most. But seeing large scale disruption in agriculture and other major industry is a huge sign for growing abundance and supply for our planet of billions.. We'll just need to figure out what to do with all the lost jobs but maybe that's the subject for a different discussion.
Stay steemy my friends!