Mind Robotics, the industrial robotics startup spun out of Rivian, has appointed former Ford electric vehicle executive Doug Field as its president as the company expands its efforts to develop AI-powered automation systems for manufacturing.
Field will oversee product development, engineering and operations, working alongside Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe, who founded Mind Robotics and serves as its board chair. The company did not disclose Field’s compensation or start date.
“Doug is a remarkable leader with a track record of delivering new technologies in successful products. He has an incredible ability to foster great teams that take on big, complex ideas.”
Scaringe said in a statement announcing the appointment.
Experience at Apple, Tesla and Ford
Field has held senior engineering positions at Apple and Tesla. At Apple, he led Mac hardware engineering before joining Tesla, where he served as senior vice president of engineering and oversaw development of the Model 3.
He later returned to Apple to lead its Special Projects Group before joining Ford in 2021. At Ford, Field became chief EV, digital and design officer, reporting to CEO Jim Farley. He also led a skunkworks team responsible for developing the automaker’s lower-cost Universal EV platform.
Ford announced Field’s departure six months before Mind Robotics named him president, as part of a broader leadership restructuring that moved his team into a new product creation and industrialisation organisation under COO Kumar Galhotra.
“Integrating AI and robotics is one of the most important — and difficult — engineering challenges of our time. I’m thrilled to join RJ in building a team, culture, and technology that will redefine what we can make in America.”
Field said.
Building AI-Powered Factory Robots
Founded in 2025, Mind Robotics is developing AI foundation models, industrial robots and deployment infrastructure for manufacturing automation. Its initial work draws on Rivian’s factory operations, which provide a production environment for training and deploying robotic systems.
Rivian is Mind Robotics’ first customer and launch partner and retains a minority stake in the company. Scaringe has argued that humanoid robots can be unnecessarily complex for many industrial tasks, with the startup focusing on automation designed for factory applications.
Mind Robotics has raised more than $1 billion, according to the supplied report. Its funding includes a $500 million Series A co-led by Accel and Andreessen Horowitz in March 2026, followed by a $400 million round led by Kleiner Perkins in May that reportedly valued the company at more than $3 billion.
Field’s appointment brings an executive with experience developing consumer technology, electric vehicles and manufacturing platforms into the company’s leadership as it works to translate AI research into practical industrial robotics systems.
