Monarch Tractor sued over tractors that were ‘unable to operate autonomously’
Monarch Tractor has been accused of overpromising on the autonomous capabilities of its tractors, according to a new lawsuit.
Burks Tractor, a dealership located in Idaho, has sued Monarch for breach of contract and allegedly violating its warranty because the California-based startup’s tractors were “unable to operate autonomously.” The dealership also says the 10 tractors it purchased “continue to experience significant problems,” and calls them “defective.”
Monarch Tractor CEO Praveen Penmetsa and a lawyer for the company did not respond to a request for comment. Monarch has denied the allegations in a court filing.
The previously unreported lawsuit, which was filed in September in Idaho state court and has since moved to federal court, is the latest trouble for Monarch.
The company has spent a few years trying to get its tractors — which are electric and supposed to be autonomous, or as Monarch calls it, “driver optional” — to catch on at wineries and dairy farms. But it’s gone through multiple rounds of layoffs over the last two years. The Ohio factory where its tractors were being built by Foxconn is now being renovated into an AI data center, and Monarch has been trying to pivot to software and tech licensing.
Burks Tractor says in its complaint that it purchased the 10 tractors from Monarch in early 2024 with the intent of being one of the California startup’s first dealers. During those negotiations, Burks Tractor claims Monarch “expressly represented” the tractors would be fully autonomous, and the autonomy features “were not limited by location or time.”
Monarch even provided demo videos to Burks Tractor that showed the equipment performing autonomous tasks, according to the complaint.
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Burks Tractor paid Monarch $773,088 for the tractors and financed the purchase, according to the lawsuit, meaning it is still paying interest. The dealer also purchased spare parts. Monarch delivered the first five tractors in April 2024 and the remaining five in June 2025.
The lawsuit claims that problems began right away.
“Upon receiving the tractors, Burks Tractor discovered that the tractors did not perform as represented and were unable to operate autonomosly,” according to the complaint. The dealer flagged this to Monarch, and the startup’s sales team “worked with Burks Tractor to try to make the autonomous tractors work autonomously,” but failed.
Burks Tractor claims Monarch’s sales team then admitted “both verbally and in writing” the tractors’ autonomy “was limited and the tractors were unable to function autonomously indoors.” The dealer then claims it went “months without any support or follow-up to make the autonomous tractors work as promised,” despite “numerous attempts” to have Monarch “repair or replace the defective tractors.”
“[T]he tractors continue to experience significant problems and do not operate autonomously,” the dealer claims in the lawsuit. Burks Tractor “demanded Monarch take back the defective tractors, but Monarch has refused to do so.”
Sean O’Kane is a reporter who has spent a decade covering the rapidly-evolving business and technology of the transportation industry, including Tesla and the many startups chasing Elon Musk. Most recently, he was a reporter at Bloomberg News where he helped break stories about some of the most notorious EV SPAC flops. He previously worked at The Verge, where he also covered consumer technology, hosted many short- and long-form videos, performed product and editorial photography, and once nearly passed out in a Red Bull Air Race plane.
You can contact or verify outreach from Sean by emailing sean.okane@techcrunch.com or via encrypted message at okane.01 on Signal.
