Setback for Autonomous Tractors? California Board Denies Monarch Tractor’s Plan for Expansion

Monarch Tractor says it has the first fully electric, driver-optional, smart tractor, but the leading edge company has bumped against state regulations limiting its expansion. 

Monarch Tractor has submitted a petition to update the California Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) safety regulations–written in the 1970s–to reflect the current technologies used on farm machinery. Specifically, the company sought to expand its ability to run the fully autonomous tractors beyond an experimental use at two California wineries, and continues its path toward full commercialization. 

However, on June 16, with a 4-to-4 vote, the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board denied the petition. 

At the hearing, many growers argued driverless equipment would help them deal with labor shortages and increase productivity.  But some board members argued there wasn't enough evidence yet as to the safety.

How Out of Date Are the Regulations? 

In the petition, Praveen Penmetsa CEO Monarch Tractor, points out the state regulations as currently written, call for an operator to be stationed at the vehicular controls for all self-propelled equipment, which does not take into account ongoing technology advances in tractors and other farm machinery.

“With today’s highly advanced autonomy technologies, driverless tractors are an entirely different machine from their twentieth and early twenty first-century counterparts. Now, the driverless features of tractors and agricultural equipment are powered by sensors, computers, and advanced artificial intelligence,” Penmetsa wrote. 

The company highlighted its safety features and guidance technologies. This includes RTK, 8 cameras, artificial intelligence safety guard rails (which deploy if a human is within 7’.). 

“This feature completely eliminates the risk of farmworkers being injured if they fall into the tractor’s path or slip when mounting or dismounting,” the company wrote. 

So What’s Next? 

The Monarch Tractors have been trialed in California vineyards since 2020. 

An ag industry coalition of 18 organizations that include California Association of Winegrape Growers, Wine Institute, Family Winemakers of California, and the California Farm Bureau Federation, have supported Monarch in its efforts to update the regulations.  

The state’s OSHA board has now denied two petitions regarding autonomous farm equipment since 2019. The first such petition was submitted by the Association of Equipment Manufacturers in 2019. 

The state board cites a lack of safety studies around using fully autonomous equipment. 

Additionally, as reported by Wine Business, “The most outspoken OSHSB member in favor of denying the Petition was one of the Board's two labor representatives, David Harrison, financial secretary of Operating Engineers Local 3, a large construction trades union repesenting 37,000 members in California and three other states that include heavy equipment operators and mechanics and other construction professions.”

At the hearing Harrison said: “We haven't heard one worker come forward and support this, and the only worker and labor organizations that have had representatives comment have opposed the Petition."

Industry Support

Monarch Tractor has received investment and development support from CNH Industrial. CNH Indusrial leaders have said electrification and machine automation are key elements of its strategy to become an even stronger technology leader in agriculture.