Taylor City Cemetery is being mowed by two autonomous machines, and residents voted to name them Pancho and Lefty.
The City of Taylor has named the two autonomous mowers that cut the grass at Taylor City Cemetery on East Fourth Street, according to a city announcement reported by the Taylor Press on 3 November. Residents chose the names in a public vote. Pancho and Lefty is the song and album recorded by Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard.
The machines are ECHO Turf Mower 1000s. They mow on their own and return to their charging stations. Each has three floating cutting heads and nine stainless steel blades that follow the contours of the ground. City staff monitor and control them remotely through a smartphone app or an online portal.
The Press reported that the two mowers cost $59,725.42. The money came from the city’s utilities budget, and the Taylor City Council approved the purchase on 13 August.
Why it matters in the Eastern Crescent
Taylor is in eastern Williamson County. Its city has handed a routine, repetitive job to two machines that staff supervise from a phone, and paid for them out of an existing budget. Cemetery grounds are a modest place to try that, which is what makes the test worth following. The Press report does not say how the mowers have performed or how the city will judge them, and CEEI has not seen a city evaluation. Those are the answers other small cities will want before they do the same.
Reported by Taylor Press staff, 3 November 2026. Summary and commentary by CEEI. CEEI is not affiliated with the City of Taylor, ECHO or the Taylor Press. Photo of downtown Taylor by Kendra.Dubee, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.