A tractor pulls a seeder to plant corn in a field in Huyi district of Xi'an, Shaanxi province, but observers may do a double-take. The tractor has no driver.

Using the Beidou Navigation Satellite System, whose antenna is installed on the roof, the tractor is being tested for the first time with the technology in an agricultural setting, according to Zheng Lixin, a technician with the agriculture and rural affairs bureau of Huyi district, who involved in the refit of the device.

A screen has been installed inside the tractor and an angle-measuring instrument placed on the chassis. At a cost of about 30,000 yuan ($4,200), the tractor is able to drag a seeder around a field independently.