Weeding a vineyard mechanically takes almost three times as long as a herbicide pass. In wide-row vineyards, TOOGO carries your inter-row tools and does those passes on electric power, with nobody in the driver's seat.
The context
Since October 2020, glyphosate has been banned in the inter-row of French vineyards, except on plots that cannot be mechanised (steep slopes, terraces, very stony soils). Under the row, its dose is capped at 450 g/ha/year.1
Some appellations go further. In Cognac, since January 2022 the AOC specifications have banned total chemical weeding of plots and headlands, and require vegetation in every inter-row to be controlled by mechanical or physical means.2
The result: more tractor passes. Mechanical weeding takes about 1 h 45 per hectare per pass, compared with 40 minutes for a herbicide, and you need around 4 passes a year.3 That all adds up in driver hours, diesel and compaction.
1 h 45
per hectare per pass for mechanical weeding (40 min with chemicals)
87,914 ha
allocated to the Cognac AOC in 2025, where every inter-row must be maintained mechanically
2 h 30
per hectare for a robot in wide-row vineyards, compared with ≈ 6 h in narrow vineyards (IFV trials, France)
Wide-row vineyards
Trials of weeding robots by the IFV (the French Wine and Vine Institute) showed it: in wide-row vineyards (row spacing over 2 m), a robot works about 2 h 30 per hectare, compared with almost 6 hours in narrow vineyards. It uses around 5 kWh/ha, where a tractor burns about 5 litres of diesel.5
Wide-row vineyards are also the cheapest to run. In Bordeaux, the Chamber of Agriculture's 2024 benchmark puts growing costs at €5,712/ha/year for a conventional wide-row vineyard, compared with more than double that for an organic narrow vineyard.6 And the model is gaining ground: Champagne opened the door to semi-wide vineyards in 2022, the Mâconnais in 2024.7
TOOGO is designed for these vineyards: it does not pass over the row, it works in the inter-row, from 2.50 m row spacing.
The barriers identified by the IFV
The IFV's vineyard robot trials identified three barriers to adoption.5 Here is how TOOGO addresses them.
A vineyard often means scattered plots. TOOGO drives at up to 6 km/h by radio remote control on tracks, and closes its track width hydraulically to go up onto a flatbed trailer. High-mounted lifting hooks make handling easier.
Multi-layer 3D LiDAR, safety edges all round, 5 emergency stops including a wireless one on the remote control, GPS virtual fence. And a tool that stays within the machine's footprint: it does not catch the posts.
TOOGO carries your existing inter-row tools: no fleet of implements to buy again. No RTK subscription. And a single machine that also works in market gardening, orchards or field crops if you are diversified. From €129,000 excl. VAT.
Jobs
| Job | Tools | Interface on TOOGO |
|---|---|---|
| Soil cultivation | Cultivator, tined tools, discs, clod breakers | Cat. 2 hitch (1,600 kg), float mode, 18.5 kN drawbar pull |
| Grass sward management | Mulcher, mower | 540 rpm PTO, up to 18 kW |
| Seedbed preparation, sowing cover crops | Power harrow, seed drill | PTO, hitch, hydraulics |
| Hydraulically adjusted tools | Tools with rams, side-shift | Load-Sensing 50 l/min: 2 double-acting + 1 single-acting, free return |
The compatibility of each tool (weight, width, power) is checked with you before the demo. TOOGO works in the inter-row: under-vine tools that work beneath the row need to be looked at case by case.
Soil and carbon
Compaction is one of the fundamental issues in viticulture: tracks, low-pressure tyres, fewer passes, the levers are well known.8 TOOGO weighs 2,300 kg unladen and runs on Alliance Agristar II radial tyres chosen for their low compaction.
On the carbon side, fuel weighs heavily in the footprint of a vineyard plot. TOOGO is 100% electric: no red diesel, no exhaust fumes between the rows, and a drivetrain that recovers energy on downhill runs.
The market
Viticulture is the leading sector for agricultural robotics in France: around 280 robots were working in French vineyards in 2023.9 Most are straddle robots, designed for narrow vineyards. TOOGO, on the other hand, is an inter-row tool carrier for wide-row vineyards.
| Manufacturer | Machine | Principle |
|---|---|---|
| VitiBot (France, SDF group) | Bakus | Autonomous electric straddle robot |
| Naïo (France) | Ted | Electric straddle robot for mechanical weeding |
| Exxact Robotics (France) | Traxx | Autonomous straddle robot |
| SITIA (France) | Trektor | Hybrid autonomous tractor for vineyards, orchards and market gardening |
| AgreenCulture (France) | CEOL | Small hybrid tracked robot for mechanical weeding |
| SIZA Robotics (France) | TOOGO 2.0 | Electric inter-row tool carrier for wide-row vineyards, which takes your own tools |
Manufacturers' public information, September 2026. Not an exhaustive list; the brands mentioned belong to their respective owners. See also our market overview.
No. TOOGO does not pass over the vine row: it works in the inter-row of wide-row vineyards, from 2.50 m row spacing. For narrow vineyards, you need to look at straddle (over-the-row) robots.
Inter-row maintenance: soil cultivation with tined tools or discs on the Category 2 three-point hitch, mulching the grass sward with the 540 rpm PTO, and hydraulic tools on its 3 outlets.
By radio remote control, at up to 6 km/h, on private tracks. For longer trips or on the road, its track width closes hydraulically and it is loaded onto a flatbed trailer.
TOOGO has two steering modes, zero turn and Ackermann, and turns round in less than 6 m.
It depends on the tool, the row spacing and the plot. TOOGO works at up to 6 km/h in autonomous mode and for up to 12 h per charge. The best way is to measure it on your own vineyard, during a demo.
See TOOGO in your rows.
A demo on your estate, with your own inter-row tools.
