Blue River Technology
Sunnyvale-based agricultural robotics company founded in 2011; acquired by John Deere in 2017 for $305M; makes See & Spray systems for precision weed control.
Blue River Technology is an agricultural robotics and computer vision company founded in 2011 by Jorge Heraud and Lee Redden, both Stanford University graduate students. The company is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, and has operated as a wholly owned subsidiary of Deere & Company (John Deere) since September 2017, when John Deere acquired it for approximately $305 million.
The company's core technology is the See & Spray platform, which combines computer vision, machine learning, and precision spraying to differentiate crops from weeds in real time. The system is mounted on John Deere self-propelled sprayers and uses 36 high-resolution cameras to scan more than 2,500 square feet per second at speeds of up to 16 miles per hour. Deep learning models run at the edge — processing imagery locally on the machine — and execute plant-level classification and nozzle actuation in milliseconds, without cloud dependency.
The See & Spray Ultimate product applies herbicide only to detected weeds, leaving crops untreated. John Deere's published data indicates that in 2025, customers using See & Spray Ultimate reduced non-residual herbicide use by nearly 50% on average compared to blanket applications, saving approximately 31 million gallons of herbicide. In some field trials, savings reached 59%. The company claims reductions of up to 90% herbicide use are achievable in high-weed-pressure conditions.
Blue River Technology's image training dataset exceeds one million labeled plant images used to train its classification models. The system performs calibration and classification approximately 20 times per second during field operation.
Since the John Deere acquisition, Blue River has expanded its research scope to include construction, mining, and autonomous field operations beyond row-crop agriculture. The company was co-founded to make farming more sustainable through robotics and computer vision, a mission it continues to pursue as a John Deere subsidiary focused on reducing chemical inputs in commercial row-crop production.
Primary type & automation activities this supplier delivers:
See & Spray Ultimate
AI-powered precision sprayer that identifies weeds vs. crops in real time using 36 cameras, cutting herbicide use by up to 50%.
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Contact Blue River Technology
WEBSITE
https://www.bluerivertechnology.com/PHONE
+1 408-733-2583HEADQUARTERS
United States
Company Facts
Founded
2011
Primary Role
Manufacturer
Company Size
-
Primary Region
North America
Annual Sales
-
Funding Stage
-
Funding Total
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