Sioux Falls, S.D. (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Raven Industries announced today that it has completed the acquisition of majority ownership of DOT Technology Corp., a manufacturer of autonomous agriculture solutions. The investment will align under the Raven Industry’s Applied Technology division in support of its strategic growth platform, Raven Autonomy.

“DOT has developed an impressive system that, alongside Raven precision ag technology, we believe will play a major role in the future of autonomous agriculture,” said Brian Meyer, division vice president of Raven Applied Technology. “We look forward to furthering the development and success of the Dot System in order to deliver fully-autonomous solutions for our customers and partners.”

DOT is the designer and manufacturer of a unique U-shaped diesel-powered platform designed to autonomously handle a large variety of agriculture implements. Through its accurate path planning technology, the platform is able to complete tasks autonomously. In turn, agriculture professionals can make better use of their time and overall operations.

Through this majority ownership, Raven will leverage the respective strengths of each entity to drive commercialization and adoption efforts of autonomy in agriculture. Together, the companies will accelerate the development of precision agriculture technology from semi-autonomous to fully autonomous solutions.

“We are very pleased with this investment; it greatly accelerates Dot’s speed to market, as well as the quality of the system, for farmers who are seeking a path to autonomy,” commented DOT founder Norbert Beaujot. “I am looking forward to continued collaboration between the DOT and Raven teams to fulfill my vision of Dot helping farmers address labor constraints and capital costs while increasing operational efficiency at the farm level.”

Shortly after announcing the acquisition of DOT, Raven Industries also announced its acquisition of SmartAg, a manufacturer of autonomous farming solutions.