A Bay Area startup that set out to revolutionize global farming appears to have collapsed, burning through hundreds of millions of dollars, laying off nearly all of its employees and leaving disappointed farmers across the country.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Monarch Tractor raised over $240 million for its self-driving, electric tractors guided by artificial intelligence that debuted in 2023. That year, Time called the vehicle<\/a> one of the year\u2019s greatest inventions, and Forbes predicted<\/a> that the company would become the world\u2019s next billion-dollar startup. The company was later valued at $518 million<\/a>. Now, the company\u00a0has abandoned its Livermore headquarters<\/a> after laying off its entire staff last year and warning it may<\/a> \u201cshut down.\u201d<\/p>\n California winemaker Patrick O\u2019Connor gave the technology a blunt review in an Instagram video<\/a> posted this week: \u201cIt totally failed.\u201d In the video, he said he\u2019s been testing the tractor for three years on his steeply sloped vineyard and that $200 million in investor and government money had been \u201cwasted\u201d on the \u201cfailed autonomous AI robot tractor.\u201d The video went viral, with nearly 550,000 views and just over 24,000 likes as of Wednesday.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n O\u2019Connor told SFGATE that, in his three years with the machine, he couldn\u2019t find any serious uses for it. He also said it was dangerous when in self-driving mode.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI wouldn\u2019t let anyone else around it,\u201d O\u2019Connor said.<\/p>\n Make SFGATE a preferred source so your search results prioritize writing by actual people, not AI.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Add Preferred Source<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Monarch Tractor\u2019s founders include Mark Schwager, a former Tesla manager, and Carlo Mondavi from the legendary Napa Valley wine family. The company did not return\u00a0SFGATE\u2019s request for comment. However, Mondavi commented on O\u2019Connor\u2019s Instagram video this week, saying that he had high hopes for the product but left the company a year earlier over disagreements with its CEO. He said the tractor \u201chad real first-gen challenges, and farmers shouldn\u2019t be the ones carrying that burden.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m genuinely sorry the tractor didn\u2019t live up to what it should have. You and the Monarch family deserved better,\u201d Mondavi said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Patrick O\u2019Connor\u2019s electric Monarch Tractor is shown at his vineyard in El Dorado County, Calif.\u00a0<\/p>\n Courtesy of Patrick O’Connor<\/p>\n O\u2019Connor told\u00a0SFGATE that he was initially excited to use Monarch\u2019s electric tractor. Organic farms like his often involve much more labor-intensive work to control weeds and pests than conventional farms that use pesticides, and the idea of off-loading that work to a self-driving tractor seemed like a dream. He said the machine was also built to specifically work in the narrow confines of vineyards. But it never worked well.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was theoretically promising advancement in mechanical weed control over chemical weed control,\u201d O\u2019Connor said. \u201cBut the hydraulics were finicky, the automated row follow didn\u2019t pan out. It was hitting my vines. And it was never to a point where you could be driverless.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n O\u2019Connor, who declined to say how much he paid for the tractor, said he did end up finding some uses for it. He said the storage container is good for moving tools and that the all-electric vehicle\u2019s battery can supply power to other tools, essentially working as a generator on wheels. He also uses the tractor to split wood \u2014 a use he showed off in his viral Instagram post.\u00a0<\/p>\n Praveen Penmetsa, the CEO and co-founder of Monarch Tractor, speaks onstage during Vox Media\u2019s Code Conference at the Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel in Dana Point, Calif., on Sept. 27, 2023.<\/p>\n Jerod Harris\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Aside from O\u2019Connor\u2019s usability complaints, multiple tractor dealerships have sued<\/a> Monarch for allegedly selling defective tractors, TechCrunch reported last November. The company denied the claims in court, but Monarch\u2019s attorneys in at least one of the cases have stopped representing the company out of concern that it won\u2019t be able to pay its legal fees,\u00a0according to Pleasanton Weekly<\/a>.<\/p>\n Monarch\u2019s three tractor models cost as much as $100,000, although various government grant programs appear to have dramatically reduced their price. Monarch\u2019s website lists state and federal subsidies<\/a> that can reduce a tractor\u2019s cost by as much as 85%.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n O\u2019Connor said he\u2019s still optimistic that AI and electric vehicles can make it easier to farm without toxic chemicals, although he also fears companies could use the machines to make it easier to spray more dangerous pesticides, under the argument that there\u2019s no humans doing it.<\/p>\n \u201cI support the purpose of trying to advance technology in agriculture, and I\u2019m not trying to shut that down or be victimized,\u201d O\u2019Connor said. \u201cThis is my experience, and I hope for better in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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