Doug Field, the former Ford electric-vehicle chief who previously led Apple's car project and helped steer Tesla's Model 3, has joined Mind Robotics as president. The appointment gives Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe's industrial automation venture an operator with experience turning ambitious vehicle programs into manufacturing systems.
Mind Robotics was created in November 2025 to develop industrial AI and robotics. Rivian's annual report shows that outside investors, mainly Eclipse Ventures, contributed about $112 million. Rivian contributed cash and licensed industrial-automation intellectual property with a combined fair value of about $128 million.
Rivian owns more than half
Rivian held a 53.5% equity interest at the end of 2025. It also concluded that it was the primary beneficiary of the venture and consolidated Mind Robotics in its financial statements. The filing said substantially all of Mind's activities at that stage involved Rivian, which is also its first customer.
That structure makes the startup more relevant to Rivian shareholders than a loose partnership. If Mind develops useful factory systems, Rivian could benefit as both an owner and an early user. The same relationship creates concentration risk: technology proven mainly inside Rivian factories may take time to win external customers.
The product is still early
Mind is developing purpose-built industrial robots and foundation models for manufacturing tasks. It is not trying to copy the full range of human movement. The company can train and deploy systems in Rivian's production environment, giving it access to real workflows and operating data.
Field's background is well matched to that problem. He led Model 3 engineering during Tesla's difficult production ramp, worked on Apple's canceled vehicle project and spent five years guiding Ford's EV and technology strategy. A strong résumé, however, does not prove that Mind has a repeatable product or profitable economics.
The next evidence should come from deployment milestones, manufacturing savings at Rivian and customers outside the parent company. Field's arrival raises the venture's execution credibility. For Rivian, the financial value will depend on whether Mind becomes an independent supplier rather than remaining a consolidated experiment serving mostly one factory network.