Raven Industries Opens Engineering Center In Scottsdale To Support Autonomous Farming Operations

SCOTTSDALE, AZ (July 19, 2022) — Raven Industries, Inc., a precision agriculture technology provider, recently opened a new 15,000-square-foot engineering center office in Scottsdale to support the advancement of automated and driverless agriculture technology.

The new office located at SkySong employs engineers focused on machine learning, artificial intelligence and computer vision. Raven employees also have access to two nearby test farms in Maricopa and Casa Grande to conduct same-day testing, enabling more efficient agriculture technology iteration. Raven expects to hire over 50 Arizona employees in the next year.

“We are designing, developing, testing and deploying technology solutions that will impact the ability for farmers to feed our growing population amid labor shortages with greater efficiency,” said Phil Corio, Senior Director of Engineering for Raven. “As we continued to consider our growing needs for AI and machine learning development, it became clear that we needed a specialized space to accomplish our goals — and the Phoenix metro area emerged as the ideal place to do this.”

Sioux Falls-based Raven Industries designs and develops autonomous vehicles that can till, spray and harvest farmland. Their technology can also integrate with existing farming implements to automate in-field
operations. Raven chose Arizona due to the state’s large and skilled talent pool and stable weather conditions for autonomous vehicle (AV) testing.

“We are excited Raven Industries has chosen Scottsdale for its tech-forward engineering center,” said Sandra Watson, President and CEO of the Arizona Commerce Authority. “Raven Industries’ new office furthers Arizona’s leadership as an automated vehicle innovation center while creating more jobs in the agritech industry and advancing new technologies.”

"Raven Industries’ expansion into Scottsdale demonstrates successful economic development which draws transformative technologies and a very talented workforce to our beautiful city," said David Ortega, Mayor of Scottsdale.

Raven’s Arizona location showcases the state’s attractiveness as an epicenter for automated driving and technology. Waymo, Cruise, Ford, TuSimple, Embark, Intel and more have AV operations in Arizona. Companies also test their cars at proving grounds in Arizona including GM, Ford, Toyota, VW, Chrysler and Nissan.

Media Contacts

Lisa McElrath, Raven Industries, [email protected]

Alyssa Tufts, Arizona Commerce Authority, [email protected]

About Raven Industries

Dedicated to advancing farming through innovation and technology, Raven provides innovative, high-value products and systems that help farmers serve the world. For decades, Raven has been committed to maximizing operational efficiencies for growers. Today, its groundbreaking work in autonomous systems is unlocking new possibilities in farming — driving tractors down the field, wirelessly connecting the office and the cab, and protecting the environment with controlled outputs. Raven is a subsidiary of CNH Industrial (NYSE: CNHI / MI: CNHI), a world-class equipment and services company specializing in Agriculture and Construction. For more information, visit ravenind.com.

About the Arizona Commerce Authority

The Arizona Commerce Authority (ACA) is the state's leading economic development organization with a streamlined mission to grow and strengthen Arizona's economy. The ACA uses a three-pronged approach to advance the overall economy: attract, expand, create - attract out-of-state companies to establish operations in Arizona; work with existing companies to expand their business in Arizona and beyond; and help entrepreneurs create new Arizona businesses in targeted industries. For more information, please visit azcommerce.com and follow the ACA on Twitter @azcommerce.