Q&A: Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe on how AI will transform autos
Posted by Talbot Payne on July 6, 2026

Henry Payne, The Detroit News
Park City, Utah – If the early 20th-century auto revolution was sparked in Detroit by entrepreneurs like Ford, Dodge, and Sloan, the early 21st century has brought a new, digital auto revolution on America’s West Coast right out of a science fiction novel.
At its forefront are entrepreneurs like Sergei Brin of Google, Tesla’s Elon Musk, and Rivian’s RJ Scaringe.
“I think it’s the most exciting time in human history,” Scaringe said at the media launch of his Tesla Model Y fighter, the electric R2, in Utah’s Wasatch Mountains. “We happen to be alive at this moment in human history, where we are creating intelligence that can do tasks humans can do.”


