Rivian’s startup Mind Robotics hires former Ford EV chief Doug Field
Rivian has hired former Ford and Tesla executive Doug Field to lead Mind Robotics, an industrial AI and robotics venture. The company plans to use Rivian's manufacturing facilities to train and deploy foundation models for industrial automation.
Why it matters
The appointment of a high-profile industry veteran signals a major push toward scaling industrial AI, potentially setting a new standard for manufacturing automation.
Doug Field has worked on EVs at Ford and Tesla, the not-so-secret car project at Apple, and was employee No. 1 at Segway. Now the executive is turning his attention to Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe’s latest project: Mind Robotics .
Field has been hired as president of Mind Robotics, an industrial AI and robotics venture Rivian created last year. The news, shared onstage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 (taking place October 13-15 in San Francisco), is another sign that Mind Robotics is getting ready to scale up its early operations just one year after its founding.
Scaringe will still be involved with Mind Robotics, but the day-to-day aspects of the business, including product, engineering, and operations, will be handled by Field.
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