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GUSS · photo pending manufacturer approval
Spraying · Fully autonomous

GUSS

California-built (Kingsburg) autonomous sprayer for orchards and vineyards, now a wholly owned John Deere subsidiary after an August 2025 acquisition that followed a three-year joint venture. GUSS navigates rows itself on GPS + LiDAR with no driver on board, but GUSS/Deere describe this as "supervised" autonomy — one operator monitors and can remotely intervene on up to 8 machines at once from a laptop. The line spans base GUSS (600-gal tank, diesel), Mini GUSS (smaller footprint for vineyards/high-density orchards/berries), Herbicide GUSS (sensor-triggered spot-spray weed control) and a 2024 fully electric option; sold and serviced only through John Deere dealers in the US and Australia, with 250+ units deployed globally as of the 2025 acquisition.

Available in: United States · Australia

At a glance

Best for

Large commercial orchard, vineyard and berry operations in the US or Australia (almonds, walnuts, pistachios, citrus, stone fruit, wine grapes) wanting to shrink a multi-tractor spray crew — GUSS's own case study shows a conventional 8-worker, 6-tractor medium-scale crew dropping to 2 workers and 4 GUSS units.

Avoid if

You farm outside the US or Australia — no dealer, service or CE-marking evidence was found for the EU, though the company has said it wants to expand there. Also avoid if you want fully unmanned operation with nobody watching — GUSS is supervised autonomy, one operator actively monitoring up to 8 machines by laptop, not unsupervised.

Not suitable for

Row crops, cereals and vegetables — GUSS sprays permanent tree/vine crops only. Growers without the acreage to justify a dedicated autonomous sprayer fleet; no published price, but GUSS markets itself against the cost of a multi-tractor, multi-worker conventional spray crew.

Specifications

Power sourceDiesel — John Deere 4.5L 173 hp Stage V engine (Tier 3 available for export); Herbicide GUSS uses a 4.5L 74 hp Stage V engine (no DEF); a fully electric variant (Electric GUSS, John Deere KREISEL batteries) launched 2024
Required tractor powerNot applicable — self-propelled 4WD/4-wheel-steer platform, not a tractor implement
DimensionsGUSS: 24 ft long x 6 ft 4 in tall x 8 ft 3 in wide (standard tires; 7 ft 6 in narrow / 8 ft 4 in low-impact options). Herbicide GUSS: 23 ft 6 in long x 6 ft 4 in tall x 8 ft 4 in transport width, 15-19 ft adjustable spray width
WeightGUSS: 11,660 lb empty. Herbicide GUSS: 12,460 lb empty (manufacturer brochure)
Min farm sizeNot disclosed as a number; manufacturer brochure markets GUSS at small, medium and large operation scales (its own "small scale" case study is still a professional commercial grower, not a hobby farm)
Productivity90-gallon fuel cell gives approximately 13-14 hour run time; one operator can monitor/supervise up to 8 GUSS machines at once; manufacturer case study cites refill downtime cut from a typical 45 minutes to about 3 minutes
Max speedNot disclosed
SensorsGPS + LiDAR for autonomous row navigation; user interface flags position/spray-rate/mobility faults with automatic visual and audible alerts; Herbicide GUSS adds multiple onboard weed-detection sensors for spot-spraying
ConnectivityLaptop-based fleet dashboard — one operator monitors up to 8 GUSS units at once with real-time position, spray rate, GPS status and automatic fault alerts; integrates with the John Deere Operations Center
Compatible tools600-gallon stainless-steel tank, 36 in direct-drive fan, Myers 2-stage centrifugal pump, 4WD/4-wheel steering (GUSS); Herbicide GUSS swaps in a hydraulic-drive centrifugal water pump and adjustable breakaway spray booms with precision weed-detection spot-spray; Mini GUSS carries a 400-gallon tank with interchangeable vineyard (9 ft, 22-nozzle) or apple/high-density-orchard (9 ft 2 in, 44-nozzle) spray towers
Configurations
GUSS (Orchard GUSS)Base model — 600-gal tank, diesel, for standard and high-density orchards
Mini GUSS25% smaller footprint than base GUSS, 400-gal tank, for vineyards, high-density orchards and berries; debuted spring 2022
Herbicide GUSSSensor-triggered spot-spray weed control, adjustable booms; launched January 2023, offered both as a purchase and as a service
Electric GUSSFully electric variant on John Deere KREISEL batteries, full-shift runtime per charge; debuted World Ag Expo, February 2024

Price & ROI

Price (EUR)Not disclosed
Native priceNot disclosed
Price verifiedNot disclosed
Business modelBuy, sold and serviced exclusively through John Deere dealers in the US and Australia; Herbicide GUSS is also offered as a pay-for-service option alongside outright purchase. No unit price published.
Ongoing costDiesel fuel, tires, spray consumables (nozzles, pump wear parts) and scheduled maintenance through the John Deere dealer network; costs not published
MaintenanceServiced via John Deere dealers (US and Australia); GUSS Automation, LLC retains its own Kingsburg, California manufacturing facility, brand and staff as a wholly owned Deere subsidiary since the August 2025 acquisition
Payback modelGUSS · GUSS Automation (wholly owned John Deere subsidiary since August 2025)
No manufacturer payback figure is published for this machine. The model below uses only your inputs.
Your farm

Farm figures carry across machines; the per-machine rates reset when you open a different listing.

Your result · per year
Labour saved
Inputs saved
Total saved

Payback = machine price ÷ (labour + input savings per year). Every figure above is yours to change. FX is indicative.

Verified outcomes

Each result is a before-to-after figure with a time horizon and a cited source. Independently-verified results are marked separately from vendor-claimed ones.

Spray-crew labour and equipment at medium scaleLabourper season · GUSS Automation brochure — "Case study: GUSS sprayers at medium scales"
8 workers to 2 workers (75% fewer); 12 pieces of towed/tractor equipment to 4 GUSS unitsVendor-claimed6 conventional tractors, 6 sprayers, 2 nurse trucks, 8 workers with PPE → 4 GUSS sprayers, 1 nurse truck, 1 supervisor pickup with laptop, 2 workers with PPE
Tank-refill downtimeTime & field accessper refill cycle · GUSS Automation brochure — "Case study: GUSS sprayer at small scales"
45 min to ~3 minVendor-claimedConventional mix-and-fill at the pump (sprayer idle during refill) → GUSS operator refills from a nurse tank while other units keep spraying; manufacturer states this "typical 45 minute downtime to refill is now reduced to just 3 minutes"
Chemical and water use with the Smart Apply optionHerbicide & crop-protectionper season · John Deere / GUSS Automation — Smart Apply upgrade announcement, World Ag Expo 2024
up to 50% chemical and water savings on averageVendor-claimedStandard blanket blast-spray application at a fixed rate → Smart Apply Intelligent Spray Control senses individual tree/vine size and foliage density and adjusts spray volume automatically (add-on for diesel Orchard GUSS and Mini GUSS)

EU context

CE markingNot disclosed — no CE-marking evidence found; confirmed commercial deployment is US and Australia only
EU Machinery RegulationNot applicable — no evidence GUSS has been placed on the EU market
AI Act relevanceNot assessed for EU deployment — no EU sales/service presence found; the onboard GPS/LiDAR autonomous-navigation and weed-detection stack would likely require an AI Act risk review if placed on the EU market
CAP subsidyNot applicable — no EU/CAP-linked deployment found; case-study savings above relate to US/Australia operations

Get it

Verified EU dealers
GUSS Automation (direct; wholly owned John Deere subsidiary)Kingsburg, California, US
RDO Equipment Co. (John Deere dealer)United States (multi-state John Deere dealer network)
John Deere dealers (Australia)Australia
Request a quote →
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Evidence

Sources

Specifications cross-checked against manufacturer documentation; listing last verified 2026-07-18.

Demo
Demo video on fileManufacturer-hosted · last checked 2026-07-18
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Israeli-developed aftermarket kit (Ouster OS1 LiDAR + camera + GNSS sensor fusion) that converts existing tractors of any brand into autonomous units for spraying, spreading, mowing and discing in permanent-crop orchards, vineyards and berries. Sold via a Robot-as-a-Service subscription and, since a 2024 partnership, through select New Holland dealers in the western US; Bluewhite reports 50,000+ autonomous farming hours across 150,000+ acres with 20+ US growers. In May 2026 Bluewhite was acquired by Elbit Systems' defense-autonomy subsidiary FUSE; the company's own site now foregrounds off-road/defense messaging, and the standalone future of the farming line is unclear from public sources.

EU homologation pending — see detail
PowerDiesel
AutonomyFully autonomous
OutputNot disclosed per-machine; fleet-wide agricultural figures only — 150,000+ acres across 20+ US growers, 50,000+ cumulative autonomous farming hours (Bluewhite $39M raise announcement, Jan 2024; a later Elbit acquisition release cites 100,000+ hours, but that figure is combined agricultural + defense, not agriculture-only)
Payback · 40 ha refNo model yet
Price not disclosed
Tracked · checked 2026-07-18