Humanoid industrial robotic are on show on the humanoid robotic information coaching heart in Shougang Park on March 27, 2025 in Beijing, China.
VCG | China Information Service | Getty Photographs
PARK CITY, Utah — Rivian Automotive CEO RJ Scaringe envisions a day within the not-so-distant future when the electrical automobile maker’s manufacturing staff could have a brand new kind of colleague: humanoid robots.
“There’s going to be 1000’s of individuals which can be collaborating alongside these robots. They are going to be taking footage, ‘Hey, examine this out! My co-worker’s identify is Phil, and he is a robotic,'” Scaringe mentioned throughout a media occasion for the launch of the Rivian R2 EV.
The 43-year-old automotive fanatic and tech entrepreneur began a robotics firm final 12 months referred to as Thoughts Robotics. The corporate has raised greater than $1 billion, in response to Scaringe.
Humanoid robots are designed to be formed and transfer like folks. Synthetic intelligence algorithms energy their skills together with advanced {hardware} like semiconductors. Proponents say they could possibly be utilized in varied settings, from factories to hospitality and even within the residence, whereas others have raised considerations concerning the gadgets changing human jobs.
Scaringe mentioned the corporate expects to disclose its first product in lower than a 12 months, with Rivian as a big minority shareholder and launch buyer. Thoughts presently has roughly 20 open positions starting from software program and {hardware} engineers to information architects, in response to its web site.
Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe, who based Thoughts Robotics late final 12 months, speaks with media on June 3, 2026 throughout a launch occasion for the R2 electrical SUV in Utah.
Michael Wayland / CNBC
Scaringe, who’s government chair and appearing CEO of Thoughts, instructed CNBC that the plan is to maintain the robotics firm separate from Rivian, versus the automaker partially shifting to make humanoid robots, like Tesla CEO Elon Musk is doing together with his firm.
“Now we have a deep relationship, and that was truly how we structured it,” Scaringe mentioned throughout an interview. “An enormous a part of structuring the enterprise was to permit me to have the ability to spend time on each.”
The robotics technique provides to a story of Scaringe doing issues in a different way than Musk, regardless of apparent similarities of their corporations. There have been sufficient comparisons that Rivian has even been referred to as the “anti-Tesla” and Scaringe has been known as the “anti-Elon.”
“I would say there’s loads of alignment there, and I feel that is as a result of, clearly, I am biased, however I feel they’re proper … that autonomy is an excellent necessary expertise,” Scaringe mentioned about Tesla and Rivian. “However when it comes to the merchandise, they, in some ways, could not be extra totally different.”
Up to now Rivian and Thoughts are helping one another, although, very similar to Musk’s corporations have additionally achieved throughout developmental phases. That features Musk’s xAI firm merging with SpaceX earlier than the corporate’s record-setting preliminary public providing on Friday in addition to SpaceX buying automobiles from Tesla.
Scaringe mentioned Rivian shall be a “large beneficiary” of Thoughts, which is utilizing information from Rivian for coaching its AI fashions. Together with Rivian’s fairness stake, the automaker shall be Thoughts’s first buyer for the robots.
“We realized it was such a giant alternative that deserved to be its personal firm,” mentioned Scaringe. He mentioned he believes there’s a multitrillion-dollar whole addressable marketplace for industrial labor.
A Tesla Optimus robotic fingers out sweet in entrance of the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York, US, on Monday, Oct. 27, 2025.
Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Photographs
Scaringe was visibly excited when talking with media concerning the potential for AI and humanoid robotics, calling it “one of the crucial thrilling occasions, maybe in human historical past.”
“100 years from now, they are going to be inheriting the work that we do over our lifetimes, and so I simply suppose we’re so fortunate that we get to be alive on the delivery of AI,” Scaringe mentioned.
Regardless of the optimism for humanoid robots, Scaringe mentioned he expects the gadgets to work alongside people reasonably than change them fully for the foreseeable future, saying it takes a “very long time” for automobile meeting vegetation to develop into so-called “darkish factories” which might be virtually fully run by robots.
“What I see occurring is the only duties shall be taken on by robots. The extra advanced duties that require increased ranges of reasoning or extra advanced, extra tactile ranges of dexterity [will be done by humans],” he mentioned.
Scaringe mentioned producers are coping with an “excessive lack of labor,” from different automakers. Rivian presently has greater than 30 open manufacturing and engineering jobs, in response to the firm’s web site.
The necessity for such employees, in addition to the speedy improvement of AI, Scaringe believes, will imply human staff shall be working alongside a robotic named “Phil” far prior to they could count on.
“The speed at which that is shifting is much quicker than I would say — like an order of magnitude quicker — than the typical individual in society understands,” he mentioned. “That is going to be a very massive problem within the short-term to only have the typical individual … understand how briskly the fashions are studying and the way succesful they’re at doing virtually the whole lot.”
— CNBC’s Arjun Kharpal contributed to this report.