Monarch Tractors Promised to Save American Wine With AI. Then, It Closed. What Happened?

It was a bold claim: a new tractor that would revolutionize modern agriculture and save American farmers hundreds of thousands of dollars. Albeit, it wasn’t just any tractor. Monarch Tractor — founded in 2018 by Napa scion and winemaker Carlo Mondavi, former Tesla exec Mark Schwager, and robotics and manufacturing expert Praveen Penmetsa — is a brand of fully electric smart tractors that can autonomously circumnavigate vines, even without a driver. Impressive, right? But the product didn’t only promise convenience. The company also suggested the tractor would save operators an average of $18,000 a year through the elimination of diesel costs.