Doug Field joins Rivian spinoff Mind Robotics as president

Mind Robotics has hired Doug Field, the former Ford EV and technology chief, as president of the industrial AI and robotics venture that spun out of Rivian last year. The startup has already raised more than $1 billion, and its backers include Accel, Andreessen Horowitz, Eclipse, Kleiner Perkins and the venture arms of Volkswagen and Salesforce.

Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe announced the hire on stage at Disrupt 2026. Scaringe, who founded Mind Robotics, will stay involved, but Field now runs the day-to-day business — product, engineering and operations all report to him.

What is Mind Robotics building?

The company is building a full stack for industrial manufacturing. Its purpose-built robots will run on foundation models, with the goal of automating industrial and manufacturing tasks at scale.

Unlike the humanoid robots under development at Tesla and other companies, Mind Robotics won't try to copy human biomechanics. Scaringe says the approach is different, and the startup has a built-in proving ground: Rivian serves as "a live, high-volume manufacturing environment for model training and deployment," and it's Mind Robotics' first customer.

"It's incredibly exciting what's happening in robotics and what we're capable of doing today, when we think about the progress that's happened on the hardware, modeling techniques, [and] bringing that together to develop robots that can actually be deployed at scale," Scaringe said on the Disrupt stage.

Who is Doug Field?

Field left Ford in April after five years shaping the automaker's electric vehicle and technology strategies. His exit was part of a wider leadership reorganization at the automaker.

His resume runs deeper than most in the field. Before Ford, Field led Apple's Project Titan, the electric and autonomous car effort that was canceled in 2024. He served as senior vice president of engineering at Tesla, where he oversaw the Model 3 and steered the sedan through "production hell." He was also employee No. 1 at Segway.

"Integrating AI and robotics is one of the most important–and difficult–engineering challenges of our time," Field said in a statement. "Mind has assembled an exceptional team and has a unique advantage: the ability to deploy and learn inside a real, high-volume factory from day one. I'm thrilled to join RJ in building a team, culture, and technology that will redefine what we can make in America."

How does the deal fit Rivian's broader strategy?

Mind Robotics is the second company Scaringe has spun out of Rivian, following Also, a micromobility venture that's starting with high-end e-bikes. The playbook mirrors the new hire: Scaringe chairs Also but handed day-to-day leadership to Chris Yu, the former chief product officer of Specialized.

Both startups operate as standalone companies, and Rivian holds minority stakes in each. As of June 30, 2026, Rivian reported owning about a third of both Mind Robotics and Also.

The Field hire, coming just one year after Mind Robotics' founding, signals the startup is gearing up to scale its early operations — with a factory floor already at its disposal.