Rivian spinoff Mind Robotics hires former Ford EV chief Doug Field
News Source
β’Tue, 13 Oct 2026 18:30:03 +0000
π° What Happened
A robotics company spun out of electric truck maker Rivian has a new leader. Mind Robotics hired Doug Field as its president. Field has led electric car work at Ford and Tesla. He also ran Apple's secret car project.
Rivian's boss, RJ Scaringe, started Mind Robotics last year. He will stay involved, but Field will run daily work like products, engineering and operations. The news came at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026.
π The Backstory
Mind Robotics builds robots to do factory jobs. The robots run on AI models, not human-like bodies. The company says it will not copy every human movement.
It has raised more than $1 billion from big investors. These include Accel, Andreessen Horowitz and the venture arms of Volkswagen and Salesforce. Rivian itself is the first customer. Its factories give the robots real, busy places to learn and work.
π― Why It Matters
Factory robots could make goods faster and cheaper. They may also change what kinds of jobs factories need over the next few years.
A robotics company spun out of electric truck maker Rivian has a new leader. Mind Robotics hired Doug Field as its president. Field has led electric car work at Ford and Tesla. He also ran Apple's secret car project.
Rivian's boss, RJ Scaringe, started Mind Robotics last year. He will stay involved, but Field will run daily work like products, engineering and operations. The news came at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026.
Mind Robotics builds robots to do factory jobs. The robots run on AI models, not human-like bodies. The company says it will not copy every human movement.
It has raised more than $1 billion from big investors. These include Accel, Andreessen Horowitz and the venture arms of Volkswagen and Salesforce. Rivian itself is the first customer. Its factories give the robots real, busy places to learn and work.
Factory robots could make goods faster and cheaper. They may also change what kinds of jobs factories need over the next few years.