TransportationNewsTechRivian spinoff Mind Robotics hires Doug Field as presidentFord\u2019s former EV and software chief will run Rivian\u2019s robotics spinoff at a time of maximum hype for physical AI.Ford\u2019s former EV and software chief will run Rivian\u2019s robotics spinoff at a time of maximum hype for physical AI.by Andrew J. HawkinsOct 13, 2026, 6:30 PM UTCShareGiftImage: The Verge; FordAndrew J. Hawkins is transportation editor with 10+ years of experience who covers EVs, public transportation, and aviation. His work has appeared in The New York Daily News and City & State.Rivian spinoff Mind Robotics announced the appointment of Doug Field as president in a major coup for the EV company\u2019s secretive robotics startup.Field was a VP of special projects at Apple, where he was the de facto head of the company\u2019s ultimately unsuccessful Project Titan effort to make an autonomous electric car.<\/p>\n
He had a previous stint at Apple as VP of Mac hardware engineering, but he left the company in 2013 to become Tesla\u2019s chief vehicle engineer, where he helped oversee the Model 3 sedan. He left Tesla in 2018 and rejoined Apple. In 2021, Field was hired by Ford to run the automaker\u2019s electric vehicle and software division, a position he held until earlier this year.Mind Robotics said Field will oversee its effort to build \u201cuniversally capable robots\u201d for the purpose of working in Rivian\u2019s factories, as well as other applications. The startup was founded by Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe in 2025, and has since raised over $1 billion in financing.<\/p>\n
While the company has yet to show off any of its robots in public, the startup says its robots are being designed with \u201cdexterity and physical reasoning\u201d that\u2019s required for industrial work.\u201cDoug is a remarkable leader with a track record of delivering new technologies in successful products, and I couldn\u2019t be more excited to be building Mind with him,\u201d Scaringe said in a statement. \u201cHe has an incredible ability to foster great teams that take on big, complex ideas and deliver products that reset expectations. That\u2019s exactly what Mind needs as we deploy robots into real factories and beyond.\u201dRelatedRivian\u2019s AI pivot is about more than chasing TeslaWhy Ford decided to merge its next-gen architecture with its current platformField joins Mind Robotics at a major turning point for the field of robotics, with rapid advances in physical AI colliding with major hurdles in hardware and software development. Several companies, like Tesla and Hyundai, are pursuing humanoid robots for factory and warehouse work \u2014 even as experts note that making a robot act like a human is easier than scaling the technology for practical work. Mind Robotics hasn\u2019t confirmed whether it\u2019s working on a humanoid design or something else entirely.<\/p>\n
The company has been on a hiring spree and currently has 32 open positions.Scaringe, who serves as acting CEO and chair of Mind Robotics, has said he wants to keep the companies separate, rather than try to combine the work like Tesla. That said, the companies are certainly linked in several ways. Mind Robotics is using AI training data from Rivian, and the robots will be initially tested in Rivian\u2019s factories. Rivian also owns equity in Mind Robotics and will be the first customer for its robots.Field said he is excited for the challenge in running the new startup.\u201cIntegrating AI and robotics is one of the most important\u2014and difficult\u2014engineering challenges of our time,\u201d he said in a statement. \u201cMind 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.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m thrilled to join RJ in building a team, culture, and technology that will redefine what we can make in America.\u201dFollow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.Andrew J. HawkinsAppleCarsElectric CarsFordNewsRobotTechTeslaTransportationMost PopularEverything Apple launched at its \u2018Welcome Home\u2019 eventApple launches HomeView, its first smart display for the homeAll the news from Apple\u2019s \u2018Welcome Home\u2019 eventThe new Apple TV 4K has built-in microphones so you can talk to Siri AIThe new Apple Home Collection includes a video doorbell, smart lock, and moreAdvertiser Content FromThis is the title for the native ad<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
TransportationNewsTechRivian spinoff Mind Robotics hires Doug Field as presidentFord\u2019s former EV and software chief will run Rivian\u2019s robotics spinoff at a time of maximum hype for physical AI.Ford\u2019s former EV and software chief will run\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26978,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.tcjhomeaccents.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.tcjhomeaccents.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.tcjhomeaccents.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.tcjhomeaccents.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.tcjhomeaccents.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26977"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/demo.tcjhomeaccents.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26977\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.tcjhomeaccents.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.tcjhomeaccents.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.tcjhomeaccents.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.tcjhomeaccents.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}