Rivian’s startup Mind Robotics hires former Ford EV chief Doug Field
Field also worked on Apple's secretive car project and oversaw development of the Tesla Model 3.
Key points
- Doug Field has been hired as president of Mind Robotics, an industrial AI and robotics venture created by Rivian last year.
- Field previously worked at Ford, Tesla, Apple's Project Titan and was employee No. 1 at Segway.
- Mind Robotics has raised over $1 billion from investors including Accel, Andreessen Horowitz, Eclipse, Kleiner Perkins and the venture arms of Volkswagen and Salesforce.
Doug Field, a veteran executive who has worked on electric vehicles at Ford and Tesla and led Apple's Project Titan, has been hired as president of Mind Robotics. The news was shared onstage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, taking place October 13-15 in San Francisco.
Mind Robotics is an industrial AI and robotics venture created by Rivian last year. Field will handle day-to-day operations, including product, engineering and operations, while Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe remains involved with the company.
What Mind Robotics does
Mind Robotics 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 humanoid robots being developed by Tesla and others, Scaringe says Mind Robotics won't attempt to mimic all the biomechanics of a human. The startup is using Rivian as a live, high-volume manufacturing environment for model training and deployment, with Rivian as its first customer.
The company has already amassed more than $1 billion in backing from Accel, Andreessen Horowitz, Eclipse, Kleiner Perkins, and the venture arms of Volkswagen and Salesforce.
Integrating AI and robotics is one of the most important — and difficult — engineering challenges of our time. 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.
— Doug Field
Field's background
Field left Ford in April after five years shaping the automaker's electric vehicle and technology strategies. His departure was part of a wider reorganization of the automaker's leadership.
Prior to Ford, Field led Apple's Project Titan, the electric, autonomous car project that was canceled in 2024. He also served as senior vice president of engineering at Tesla, where he oversaw development of the Model 3 and got the sedan through production hell.
