My Self-Driving Lawnmower

Mowing lawns is fun during the summer. But our house has a lot of trees with a lot of leaves, so we end up mowing all the way through November just to keep them from piling up.

This year, though, I’ve had some extra help—a self-driving lawn mower! It’s been in development for over five years, including a four-year training period, and is now finally operational. While it’s still at Level 2 autonomy, requiring close supervision, I’m hopeful it’ll reach full independence one day. (Though I wonder which will happen first—this or my car becoming fully self-driving?)

Jokes aside, my son has gotten pretty good with the zero-turn mower. When we’re cutting grass, he struggles to stay precisely on the line between the cut and uncut grass, but he’s improving. With leaves, straight lines aren’t an issue.

I try to involve him as early as possible when he’s interested because that may not always be the case. We still have another week or two of leaves to pick up, but I’m excited to see how well he can cut the grass next year! (assuming he’s still interested!)