Humanoid industrial robotic are on show on the humanoid robotic information coaching middle in Shougang Park on March 27, 2025 in Beijing, China.
VCG | China Information Service | Getty Pictures
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 may have a brand new sort of colleague: humanoid robots.
“There’s going to be hundreds of individuals which might be collaborating alongside these robots. They are going to be taking footage, ‘Hey, test this out! My co-worker’s identify is Phil, and he is a robotic,'” Scaringe stated 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 line with Scaringe.
Humanoid robots are designed to be formed and transfer like individuals. Synthetic intelligence algorithms energy their talents together with advanced {hardware} like semiconductors. Proponents say they could possibly be utilized in numerous settings, from factories to hospitality and even within the house, whereas others have raised issues concerning the gadgets changing human jobs.
Scaringe stated 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 line with 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, informed 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 along with his firm.
“We’ve a deep relationship, and that was truly how we structured it,” Scaringe stated 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 otherwise 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 might 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 vital know-how,” Scaringe stated about Tesla and Rivian. “However by way of the merchandise, they, in some ways, could not be extra totally different.”
To date Rivian and Thoughts are aiding one another, although, very like Musk’s corporations have additionally accomplished 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 stated Rivian will likely be a “big beneficiary” of Thoughts, which is utilizing information from Rivian for coaching its AI fashions. Together with Rivian’s fairness stake, the automaker will likely be Thoughts’s first buyer for the robots.
“We realized it was such an enormous alternative that deserved to be its personal firm,” stated Scaringe. He stated he believes there’s a multitrillion-dollar complete addressable marketplace for industrial labor.
A Tesla Optimus robotic palms out sweet in entrance of the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York, US, on Monday, Oct. 27, 2025.
Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Pictures
Scaringe was visibly excited when talking with media concerning the potential for AI and humanoid robotics, calling it “probably the most 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 start of AI,” Scaringe stated.
Regardless of the optimism for humanoid robots, Scaringe stated he expects the gadgets to work alongside people somewhat than substitute them fully for the foreseeable future, saying it takes a “very long time” for automobile meeting vegetation to grow to be so-called “darkish factories” which will be nearly completely run by robots.
“What I see taking place is the only duties will likely be taken on by robots. The extra advanced duties that require larger ranges of reasoning or extra advanced, extra tactile ranges of dexterity [will be done by humans],” he stated.
Scaringe stated producers are coping with an “excessive lack of labor,” from different automakers. Rivian presently has greater than 30 open manufacturing and engineering jobs, in line with the firm’s web site.
The necessity for such staff, in addition to the fast growth of AI, Scaringe believes, will imply human staff will likely be working alongside a robotic named “Phil” far earlier than they might anticipate.
“The speed at which that is transferring is way quicker than I might say — like an order of magnitude quicker — than the common particular person in society understands,” he stated. “That is going to be a very massive problem within the short-term to simply have the common particular person … notice how briskly the fashions are studying and the way succesful they’re at doing nearly every thing.”
— CNBC’s Arjun Kharpal contributed to this report.
