Forest machines without any driver may reduce felling costs and fuel consumption in forestry. The first system tested by, the Swedish forest research institute, is competitive already at the prototype stage. Researchers consider it to be a technical breakthrough.

Together with two manned forwarders the driverless machine called Besten - "the Beast" may constitute the major felling system in the future. The forwarders work as couriers for the Beast. The forwarder drivers manoeuvre it by remote control. The Beast concept is now being tested at the prototype stage. The results are very promising both in respect of performance and costs, says Ms Isabelle Bergkvist researcher at Skogforsk.
She says that this construction implies a major forestry breakthrough. In comparison with the traditional two machine system felling costs can be reduced by more than 15 %. The reasons are inter alia simpler and cheaper machines, direct loading on the forwarder and 20 - 40 % less fuel consumption.
Results of the Skogforsk research indicate that the driverless concept is profitable in heavy forests and in situations where transport distances in the terrain are not more than about 600 meters. Otherwise the waiting periods for the felling unit become so long that traditional methods with a harvester and a forwarder are more profitable.