Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe is betting on EVs, robots, and autonomy all at once — he’ll explain why at Disrupt 2026

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Building a institution is hard. But gathering 1 that besides designs, manufactures, and delivers hardware astatine scale, from a mill floor, with proviso concatenation concerns galore is different bid of difficulty. And Rivian’s CEO RJ Scaringe is speaking astatine TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 to item that travel and the lessons it’s bestowed.

Rivian sits astatine the intersection of AI, software, robotics, manufacturing, and transportation. And Scaringe has spent the amended portion of 2 decades proving that intersection isn’t conscionable survivable. He besides thinks it’s astir to go overmuch much crowded.

Scaringe’s Disrupt Stage league is conscionable 1 of galore large conversations happening astatine Disrupt this year, moving October 13-15 astatine San Francisco’s Moscone Center. Check retired the programming that’s been announced truthful acold here, and if you don’t already person a ticket, lock successful yours earlier our adjacent terms summation connected August 22.

What Scaringe brings to the Disrupt Stage

Rivian has begun rolling retired the R2, the astir $58,000 SUV that Scaringe is counting connected to bash what the pricier R1T and R1S didn’t: grow Rivian beyond the niche market. He’s called it “maybe the astir important happening we’ve launched to date” amid slowing request for costlier EVs and mounting competitory pressure, particularly from lower-cost Chinese EV manufacturers.

At the aforesaid time, Scaringe has been expanding beyond vehicles. He’s laid retired a roadmap to afloat Level 4 autonomy by 2028, and he’s building retired Rivian’s ain charging network with ambitions to go 1 of the largest successful the U.S.

Scaringe besides founded Mind Robotics, a humanoid robotics institution that’s raised $900 cardinal this twelvemonth alone, which helium runs arsenic enforcement seat and acting CEO, with Rivian arsenic a ample shareholder and motorboat customer. With the extremity of turning Rivian’s mill level successful Normal, Illinois, into a proving crushed for much ingrained quality and robotic coexistence connected the assembly line, Scaringe sees an accidental to straight code an anticipated shortage successful quality labor.

And exclusively astatine Disrupt 2026, you’ll get to ticker Scaringe item however each of these investments acceptable together, and what he’s learned astir gathering successful the carnal satellite and past bringing AI into the fold, portion galore AI companies effort to execute the inverse.

To perceive it successful idiosyncratic and articulation the 10,000+ founders, investors, and technologists heading to San Francisco for TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 connected October 13-15, grab your summons contiguous to marque definite you get the champion disposable price.