Monarch Tractor, the world’s first fully electric, driver-optional, smart tractor manufacturer, announced the debut of its flagship tractor recently at Wente Vineyards of Livermore, CA, the oldest continuously operated family winery in the U.S. The announcement was made, appropriately enough, on Earth Day…

Another of the company’s co-founders, Chief Technology Officer Dr. Zachary Omohundro, calls it “no-compromise technology,” because growers don’t need to give up anything found on conventional tractors. “It can do everything a regular tractor can do, plus it can operate automatically, plus data collection, plus it’s electric,” he said.

Omohundro, who has a PhD in Robotics from Carnegie-Mellon University, said that not only is tractor “smart,” it improves the usefulness of other equipment used on the farm. For example, sensors on board can tell the grower how much torque is going to the mower. “A Bush Hog is not ‘smart,’” he said, “but it is with a Monarch.”
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