Agriculture

XAG’s New P150 Max Drone Brings Smart, Heavy-Duty Automation to Modern Farming

When farm challenges grow, smart tools need to grow with them.

Updated

November 27, 2025 3:26 PM

A drone spraying water over an agricultural field. PHOTO: FREEPIK

Farms today are under pressure. Fields are getting bigger, workers are harder to find and many jobs still rely on long hours of manual labor. XAG’s new P150 Max agricultural drone is designed for exactly this reality. Instead of replacing farmers, it takes over the heavy, repetitive fieldwork that slows them down, making farm operations more efficient and more precise.

The P150 Max is built around one simple idea: a single machine that can handle multiple farming tasks. Most farm drones focus only on spraying or mapping, but this one is fully modular. With a quick switch of attachments, it can spray crops, spread seeds or fertilizer, map fields or transport supplies. This flexibility helps farmers keep up with changing tasks throughout the day without needing different machines, improving both productivity and cost-efficiency.

A key challenge in agriculture is that fields are rarely smooth or predictable. Tractors can get stuck, smaller drones can’t carry much and some areas—like orchards or hilly plots—are simply hard to reach. The P150 Max fills that gap with an 80-kilogram payload and fast flight speed, letting it cover more ground per trip. Fewer takeoffs mean less downtime and more work completed before weather or daylight cuts operations short.

When it’s time to spray, the drone uses a smart spraying system that allows farmers to adjust droplet size based on the crop’s needs. This matters because precise spraying reduces waste and improves targeting. With an output of up to 46 liters per minute, the drone can serve both large open fields and dense orchards where consistent coverage is traditionally difficult.

The spreading system applies the same logic. Instead of dropping seeds or fertilizer unevenly, the vertical mechanism spreads material smoothly and resists wind drift. This ensures uniform application across irregular or hard-to-reach land—an ongoing challenge for modern farms aiming for higher yield and better resource use.

Another everyday issue for farmers is understanding and surveying the land before working on it. The P150 Max helps here with a built-in mapping tool that covers up to 20 hectares per flight and instantly converts the images into detailed maps. With AI detecting obstacles like trees or irrigation lines, the drone can plan safe and efficient autonomous routes, reducing manual planning time.

Beyond spraying and spreading, the drone can transport tools, produce and farm supplies using a sling attachment. This is particularly helpful after heavy rain, when vehicles cannot easily move across muddy or flooded fields.

Under all these functions is XAG’s upgraded flight control system, which provides centimeter-level accuracy even when network signals are weak. Integrated sensors—including 4D radar and a wide-angle camera—help the drone recognize hazards such as poles and wires. Farmers can manage all operations through the XAG One app or a handheld controller, both of which automatically generate the best route based on field shape and terrain.

Since long field days require long operating hours, the fast-charging battery system can recharge in about seven minutes using a dedicated kit. This supports continuous drone use throughout the day with minimal interruptions.

After years of testing, the XAG P150 Max is essentially an effort to make practical, scalable farm automation more accessible. By combining spraying, spreading, mapping and transport into one heavy-duty platform, it offers a way to ease labor shortages while keeping operations efficient and sustainable. Instead of focusing on one task, the drone aims to take over the time-consuming physical work so farmers can focus on decisions, planning and crop management.

Keep Reading

Climate

How Overstory’s Satellite Data and AI Are Transforming Vegetation Management

What Overstory’s vegetation intelligence reveals about wildfire and outage risk.

Updated

November 27, 2025 3:26 PM

Aerial photograph of a green field. PHOTO: UNSPLASH

Managing vegetation around power lines has long been one of the biggest operational challenges for utilities. A single tree growing too close to electrical infrastructure can trigger outages or, in the worst cases, spark fires. With vast service territories, shifting weather patterns and limited visibility into changing landscape conditions, utilities often rely on inspections and broad wildfire-risk maps that provide only partial insight into where the most serious threats actually are.

Overstory, a company specializing in AI-powered vegetation intelligence, addresses this visibility gap with a platform that uses high-resolution satellite imagery and machine-learning models to interpret vegetation conditions in detail.Instead of assessing risk by region, terrain type or outdated maps, the system evaluates conditions tree by tree. This helps utilities identify precisely where hazards exist and which areas demand immediate intervention—critical in regions where small variations in vegetation density, fuel type or moisture levels can influence how quickly a spark might spread.

At the core of this technology is Overstory’s proprietary Fuel Detection Model, designed to identify vegetation most likely to ignite or accelerate wildfire spread. Unlike broad, publicly available fire-risk maps, the model analyzes the specific fuel conditions surrounding electrical infrastructure. By pinpointing exact locations where certain fuel types or densities create elevated risk, utilities can plan targeted wildfire-mitigation work rather than relying on sweeping, resource-heavy maintenance cycles.

This data-driven approach is reshaping how utilities structure vegetation-management programs. Having visibility into where risks are concentrated—and which trees or areas pose the highest threat—allows teams to prioritize work based on measurable evidence. For many utilities, this shift supports more efficient crew deployment, reduces unnecessary trims and builds clearer justification for preventive action. It also offers a path to strengthening grid reliability without expanding operational budgets.

Overstory’s recent US$43 million Series B funding round, led by Blume Equity with support from Energy Impact Partners and existing investors, reflects growing interest in AI tools that translate environmental data into actionable wildfire-prevention intelligence. The investment will support further development of Overstory’s risk models and help expand access to its vegetation-intelligence platform.

Yet the company’s focus remains consistent: giving utilities sharper, real-time visibility into the landscapes they manage. By converting satellite observations into clear and actionable insights, Overstory’s AI system provides a more informed foundation for decisions that impact grid safety and community resilience. In an environment where a single missed hazard can have far-reaching consequences, early and precise detection has become an essential tool for preventing wildfires before they start.