Robot model
MK-V
Monarch Tractor (founded 2018, Livermore, California; founder and CEO Praveen Penmetsa) built the MK-V, a fully battery-electric, driver-optional smart tractor…
- Manufacturer
- Monarch Tractor
- Form factor
- agriculture
- Maturity
- commercial
- Lifecycle
- discontinued
- Deployments
- 3
discontinuedDiscontinued. The product or service is no longer actively pursued by the maker.
Overview
Monarch Tractor (founded 2018, Livermore, California; founder and CEO Praveen Penmetsa) built the MK-V, a fully battery-electric, driver-optional smart tractor with a WingspanAI fleet-management and remote-supervision layer. The registry records it at commercial maturity to reflect a genuine historical peak: the MK-V shipped to paying commercial customers starting in December 2022, the first being Constellation Brands, which took six tractors for its To Kalon vineyard, following an earlier 2021 pilot at Wente. Monarch raised more than $220 million (some reports up to roughly $251 million), anchored by a $133 million Series C in July 2024. The lifecycle state is discontinued, recording a major correction to the originating dispatch's framing of an active, growing manufacturer: Monarch collapsed through 2025, with its Foxconn manufacturing arrangement ending when the Ohio plant was sold to SoftBank in August 2025, layoffs and a shutdown warning in November 2025, a pivot to roughly 70 percent licensing revenue, and finally an assignment for the benefit of creditors. Its assets and intellectual property, including the software-defined vehicle platform and perception stack, were acquired by Caterpillar around April 14, 2026, in an asset and technology purchase with undisclosed terms rather than a going-concern acquisition. On autonomy, marketing of a fully autonomous tractor overstated reality: full autonomy was confined to a narrow dairy feed-pushing use case in outdoor feed lanes, while general field work was driver-assist with an operator aboard, and an Idaho dealer sued in September 2025 alleging the tractors could not operate autonomously, with Monarch's sales team reportedly conceding the limits in writing.
Verified vs. claimed
- Maturity stage
- commercial(Commercially deployed with revenue-generating operations.)
- Verified deployments
- 3 deployments on file
- Sources on file
- 6 sources, view all
Key facts
Autonomy level
Production target
Price
Drive type
Sensor suite
Specs
Notes
Products
Form Factor
Autonomy level
Data & sources
Press releases
1
News coverage
3
Web sources
2
6 sources backing this record.View all →
Availability and pricing
- Availability
- Discontinued
- Price
- Not publicly disclosed
- Units in field
- Not disclosed
- Sales model
- Not disclosed
- Lead time
- Not disclosed
Accountability: Monarch Tractor has a Claim Integrity of 67% (2 of 3 public claims verified). See the industry ledger.
Pricing
No verified price is on record for MK-V. Physical-AI systems are often sold through enterprise contracts or operated as a service rather than at a public list price.
Deployments (3)
- MK-V at Oakvilleoperational
Constellation Brands received the first six production Monarch MK-V tractors on December 1, 2022 — the first Founder Series production deliveries.
- MK-V at Livermorepilot
First pilot-series Monarch MK-V deployed at Wente Vineyards in Livermore, CA — the first real-world deployment of any Monarch Tractor.
- MK-V at Napaoperational
Monarch MK-V electric autonomous tractor deployed at California vineyards in Napa Valley.
MK-V on the deployment map
Where MK-V is verified operating. Explore the deployment map by place and type.
Recent activity
Every change to this record is dated, sourced, and independently verified where marked.
- Verified media addedVerifiedJun 4, 2026
Monarch Tractor MK-V launch
- Record createdJun 3, 2026
Added to the verified registry
- Price point recordedApr 8, 2026
Not announced
- Deployment verifiedVerifiedDec 1, 2022
at Oakville
- Deployment verifiedVerifiedApr 23, 2021
at Livermore
Deployment-verified media (1)
Monarch Tractor's launch of the MK-V electric tractor. Monarch frames the MK-V as 'driver-optional', keeping the farmer in control whether seated or operating autonomously; operator-supervised autonomy.
From deployment: Napa
Supply chain (1)
Compute / semiconductor
- NVIDIANVIDIA DRIVE -- AI compute for autonomous farming and fleet management on MK-Vsupplies
Suppliers appear here when verified with at least two strong sources (maker-official / IR / regulatory / standards-body / verified tier-2). Sources are append-only; corrections add new sources rather than rewrite history.
Safety record
No incidents on record for MK-V.
Only active incidents are counted. Retracted incidents are excluded from this summary but remain reachable at their canonical URLs.
Sources (6)
- https://techcrunch.com/2026/04/15/monarch-tractors-collapse-ends-in-with-an-acquisition-by-caterpillar/
- https://techcrunch.com/2025/11/19/monarch-tractor-preps-for-layoffs-and-warns-employees-it-may-shut-down/
- https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/13/monarch-tractors-wont-be-built-by-foxconn-after-ohio-factory-sale/
- https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221201005455/en/
- https://agfundernews.com/brief-monarch-tractor-bags-record-133m-eyes-global-expansion-for-its-all-electric-autonomous-machines
- https://techbuzz.ai/articles/monarch-tractor-faces-lawsuit-over-non-autonomous-tractors
Common questions
- What is MK-V?
- Monarch Tractor (founded 2018, Livermore, California; founder and CEO Praveen Penmetsa) built the MK-V, a fully battery-electric, driver-optional smart tractor with a WingspanAI fleet-management and remote-supervision layer. The registry records it at commercial maturity to reflect a genuine historical peak: the MK-V shipped to paying commercial customers starting in December 2022, the first being Constellation Brands, which took six tractors for its To Kalon vineyard, following an earlier 2021 pilot at Wente. Monarch raised more than $220 million (some reports up to roughly $251 million), anchored by a $133 million Series C in July 2024. The lifecycle state is discontinued, recording a major correction to the originating dispatch's framing of an active, growing manufacturer: Monarch collapsed through 2025, with its Foxconn manufacturing arrangement ending when the Ohio plant was sold to SoftBank in August 2025, layoffs and a shutdown warning in November 2025, a pivot to roughly 70 percent licensing revenue, and finally an assignment for the benefit of creditors. Its assets and intellectual property, including the software-defined vehicle platform and perception stack, were acquired by Caterpillar around April 14, 2026, in an asset and technology purchase with undisclosed terms rather than a going-concern acquisition. On autonomy, marketing of a fully autonomous tractor overstated reality: full autonomy was confined to a narrow dairy feed-pushing use case in outdoor feed lanes, while general field work was driver-assist with an operator aboard, and an Idaho dealer sued in September 2025 alleging the tractors could not operate autonomously, with Monarch's sales team reportedly conceding the limits in writing.
- How much does MK-V cost?
- MK-V's price is not publicly disclosed. DEPLOY has no verified price on record for MK-V from Monarch Tractor. Physical-AI systems like this are often sold through enterprise contracts or operated as a service rather than at a public list price; check the manufacturer for the latest.
- Is MK-V actually deployed in the real world?
- Yes. MK-V is independently verified in real-world operation on the DEPLOY registry, confirmed at named deployment sites with primary sources: not a concept, render, or demo-only.
- Is MK-V autonomous or teleoperated?
- Yes. DEPLOY independently verifies MK-V performing Driver-optional autonomous electric tractor operation autonomously, with no human in the loop.
- Who makes MK-V?
- MK-V is made by Monarch Tractor, based in Livermore, CA, founded in 2018.
- Where is MK-V deployed?
- 3 verified deployments of MK-V are on the DEPLOY registry, including at Oakville, Livermore, Napa.
- Can you buy MK-V?
- MK-V is discontinued and no longer sold; its historical record remains on the DEPLOY registry.
- What are alternatives to MK-V?
- On the DEPLOY registry, comparable agriculture robots to MK-V include Ted, ARA, LaserWeeder, John Deere autonomous tractor + See & Spray.
- How does MK-V compare to Ted?
- MK-V and Ted (Naio Technologies · 5 deployments) are both agriculture robots on the DEPLOY registry. MK-V has 3 verified deployments on record. Compare both records for specs, safety, deployments, and verified-vs-claimed autonomy.
- Is MK-V a top agriculture?
- On DEPLOY's intelligence score, which blends verified deployments, safety, adoption, media, and IP signals, MK-V ranks in roughly the top 30% of agriculture models tracked by the registry.
- What is MK-V's maturity stage?
- MK-V is at the commercial stage on the DEPLOY maturity ladder (research, prototype, pilot, commercial, production). Commercial stage means production-grade deployments are operating at named customer sites.
- Is MK-V still being made?
- MK-V is discontinued: the product line is permanently ceased; historical records remain on the registry.
- Is MK-V safe?
- MK-V has no incidents on record in the DEPLOY registry. This does not constitute a safety guarantee; it reflects the incidents DEPLOY has tracked and verified to date.
- What happened to Monarch Tractor?
- Monarch Tractor shut down in April 2026 after seven years of development. The company spent years developing an electric autonomous tractor but was unable to commercialize it. Caterpillar acquired Monarch Tractor's assets. The MK-V was the world's first driver-optional electric tractor.
Methodology: Verified · 6 sources (1 primary) · last reviewed 2026-07-12
Verification posture
Verified
High confidence
Review state
Stable
Last reviewed 2026-07-12
Maturity + lifecycle
Maturity stage: commercial
Lifecycle: discontinued
Architectural position
Cohort: agriculture
Sources by quality tier
- 3
- secondary-industry-publication
- Industry publication
- 2
- unclassified
- Unclassified source
- 1
- primary-company-ir
- Company IR disclosure
The framework is documented at /methodology. Corrections at /corrections. Reviewer: DEPLOY editorial team.
Methodology surface for MK-V.Recent coverage
MK-V in third-party press
Attention vs reality over time
Media mentions per month (area) against verified deployment events (dots). A press spike over a flat deployment line is the hype gap, drawn over time.
In the press
Recent coverage mentioning MK-V from third-party publications. Automatically surfaced; not part of the verified registry record.
Monarch Tractor's collapse ends with acquisition by Caterpillar
Monarch Tractor's assets acquired by Caterpillar after struggling to commercialize. Shut down operations in 2026 citing financial strain and technology challenges.
Monarch Tractor shuts down after raising 40M
Monarch Tractor, once valued at over 00M, shut down after raising 40M in venture capital. Assets sold to Caterpillar per reports.
Monarch Tractor Announces 33M Series C Funding - Largest Ever in Agricultural Robotics
Monarch Tractor raised 33M in Series C, the largest funding round in agricultural robotics history, led by CEO Praveen Penmetsa.
Machine-readable surfaces
- Markdown mirror: /models/monarch-mk-v.md
- JSON-LD: embedded in this page’s head
- REST API: /v1/models/f5976b8e-aead-4370-b178-304c0c769db1
- Revision history: /models/monarch-mk-v/history
- Data documentation: /data
- Query this programmatically: Deploy MCP
Buyer-facing pricing: deploy.report/price/monarch-mk-v
Reality vs attention
MK-V draws attention at the 20th percentile but verifies reality at the 81st percentile among ag robots. Hype Gap -60.8, 19th widest among ag robots.
6-month trend
Analysis
Limited independent press and video coverage to date.
Signal flags
Dimension breakdown
Verified signal
Attention (reach, not merit)
DEPLOY Intelligence scores are computed from verified registry data: confirmed deployments, disclosed funding rounds, regulatory filings, active job listings, video viewership, and press coverage. Confidence ratings reflect data availability. Scores update nightly.
DEPLOY Indices — verified vs claimed
Last computed: Jul 19, 2026