Mind Robotics has appointed Doug Field as its president, bringing a veteran of Apple, Tesla and Ford to the startup linked to Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe. The appointment was disclosed, as first reported by The Verge.
Field most recently held a senior role at Apple, where he served as vice president of special projects. He was closely associated with Project Titan, Apple’s ultimately unsuccessful effort to develop an autonomous electric vehicle, and had previously led the company’s Mac hardware engineering organization.
Field brings experience from Apple, Tesla and Ford
His career spans some of the technology and auto industries’ most ambitious vehicle programs. He left Apple in 2013 to become Tesla’s chief vehicle engineer, where he helped oversee development of the Model 3. He departed Tesla in 2018, later returned to Apple, and Ford hired him in 2021 to lead its electric-vehicle and software work.
The new president arrives with experience managing hardware, vehicle development and automotive software efforts at companies working at very different scales. That background is significant for Mind Robotics because Scaringe built Rivian around the difficult task of developing electric vehicles, while Apple’s Project Titan showed how costly and complex it can be for a tech company to turn advanced mobility research into a commercial product.
Mind Robotics remains largely undefined
The startup has not publicly said what responsibilities Field will hold or when he starts. It has also not detailed its robotics products, their development stage, or its commercial plans. Mind Robotics’ ownership structure remains unclear as well: its connection to Scaringe is known, but it is not confirmed whether Rivian formally owns or controls the company.
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