Electric Monarch tractor can plow a field without a driver and run for ten hours

Re:Electric Monarch tractor can plow a field without a drive... by ptero on Friday December 11, 2020 @06:32PM (#25393140)

> AI is going to dramatically alter this competitive landscape and John Deere’s DRM is not going to to stop it.

I would love this state, but getting there is not simple. DRM is just one facet of it: companies selling machinery have worked on hardware for decades, making their systems physically robust and able to take lots of abuse. This raises the barrier to entry a lot. My 2c.

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Re:Electric Monarch tractor can plow a field without a drive... by NegativeLatency on Saturday December 12, 2020 @01:50AM (#25396236)

The startup needs an exit (eventually) I’m sure if the deal was good enough John Deere could buy them

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Re:Electric Monarch tractor can plow a field without a drive... by i_am_proteus on Saturday December 12, 2020 @06:00AM (#25397453)

Startups with this mindset need not apply. The market for agricultural technology will always exist, and there's no reason a new player needs to "exit" instead of growing and sustaining the business.

See the comments about repair parts. These aren't cheap toys like smartphones and eyepads that are only meant to last a few years. Ag machinery are capital assets that should function for decades. The people buying this equipment are in it for the long haul, and anyone financing such a venture should be also.

If SV VC prefers scale-and-exit schemes, then it's not a good fit, but SV VC isn't the only source of capital.

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