Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe has made a personal seed investment in Mind Robotics, a stealth-mode humanoid startup assembled by a team of former Tesla Autopilot, Boston Dynamics, and Waymo engineers, according to two sources with knowledge of the deal.

Scaringe's involvement is notable on several dimensions. As the CEO of a publicly traded EV company, his investment in a humanoid robotics startup reflects both the convergence of physical AI applications across transportation and robotics, and personal conviction that humanoids represent the next major hardware platform.

The Mind Robotics Team

Mind Robotics was founded in late 2024 by a core team of four engineers who previously worked together on Tesla's Optimus program before leaving in 2024. The founding team includes veterans with experience in:

  • Large-scale reinforcement learning for physical systems from Tesla's Dojo team
  • Whole-body dynamics and control from Boston Dynamics' Atlas program
  • Perception and scene understanding for unstructured environments from Waymo

The team is reportedly building in stealth out of a Palo Alto facility, with an initial focus on manipulation-first humanoids rather than the locomotion-first approach of most competitors. Sources say the team believes most industrial applications will require robots that can work from fixed or semi-fixed positions before full mobility is required — a more pragmatic path to deployment.

Scaringe's Thesis

Scaringe has spoken publicly about the connection between autonomous vehicles and humanoid robotics — both require the ability to understand and navigate complex physical environments, make real-time decisions, and interact safely with humans. His investment in Mind Robotics suggests he sees a talent and technology connection between the two industries.

Several Rivian engineers with backgrounds in Rivian's Driver+ autonomy program have reportedly joined Mind Robotics, raising questions about the relationship between Scaringe's investment and the company's hiring.

Growing Automotive-Robotics Crossover

Scaringe's investment is part of a broader trend of automotive industry leaders and capital flowing into humanoid robotics. BMW has strategic investments in Figure AI and Apptronik. Mercedes-Benz Ventures co-led NEURA Robotics' Series C. Toyota is a major partner of Agility Robotics.

For traditional automakers and EV companies, humanoid robots offer two distinct opportunities: internal deployment to automate manufacturing, and a new vehicle-adjacent product category that leverages existing strengths in hardware engineering and supply chain management.

Mind Robotics is expected to emerge from stealth later in 2026 with a seed round in the range of $30-50M. Scaringe's participation is described as a personal investment rather than a Rivian corporate initiative.