COLUMBUS, Ohio — Lordstown will soon produce the Monarch MK-V electric, autonomous tractor in a partnership between California-based Monarch Tractor and Taiwan-based Foxconn.

"The idea here is that we're developing autonomous tractors. This is something that has gained a lot of steam in the last couple of years," agriculture expert, Andy Vance said.

Lordstown Motors sold the former General Motors plant to Foxconn earlier this year.

"Leveraging Foxconn's manufacturing strengths, worldwide network of industry leaders and supply partners, and our new partnership with Monarch Tractor, Foxconn is positioned and eager to contribute to the ongoing and future success of Monarch Tractor, its products, and its customers," Young Liu, Chairman of Hon Hai Technology Group, said in a release.

 Praveen Penmetsa, Co-Founder & CEO of Monarch Tractor, said in the release that creating the industry's most advanced tractor demands a manufacturing partner with the experience to quickly scale and execute with precision.

"Still, probably fossil fuels [will be] involved in generating electricity, but the idea here is that can we further reduce the amount of labor, the number of people it takes to tend a given acre of land," Vance said. "If you look, we've moved from mules and horses now through to very large tractors and implements in terms of being able to tend to the field. If we can further reduce that labor by having this autonomous capability, do we make the individual farmer even more efficient at producing food?"

Vance said this is another leap forward.

"We already have guidance, what's called auto steering in tractors, but the driver is still in the cab, even if the machine is doing the actual driving. The question is, are we comfortable taking that driver out of the cab?" he said.