Person attributes
Robert Joseph (RJ) Scaringe is an automotive entrepreneur, executive, and engineer who founded and works as the CEO of Rivian Automotive (Rivian). Rivian is a developer and manufacturer of consumer and commercial electric vehicles, charging infrastructure, and energy technology.
RJ Scaringe was born in 1983 in Rockledge, Florida, on Florida's Space Coast. He was the son of an engineer and was noted to have an interest in classic cars, with the idea of building his own vehicle brand by eighteen. As part of this interest, RJ began working at a Porsche restoration shop in Florida, where he was able to realize his interest in cars. However, the thought of starting a new car company at the time seemed farfetched, as the last successful American automotive start-up before Tesla was Chrysler, which was founded in 1925.
RJ Scaringe attended his father's alma mater, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York, where he earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering. Following his bachelor's, RJ Scaringe attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he earned his master's of mechanical engineering and then earned his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering at MIT's Sloan Automotive Lab, where he was part of projects to convert vehicles into electric vehicles and had a focus on automotive powertrain systems, lean manufacturing, and operations management.
It has been reported that during his time at MIT, RJ Scaringe realized that changing an automotive company from inside would be too difficult and that starting his own car company would give him the experience of starting a company and learning the lessons needed to make the company successful. Following his graduation, RJ Scaringe moved back to Florida and started his own car company.
After graduating with his doctorate from MIT, RJ Scaringe returned to Florida and founded the company that would become Rivian Automotive. This company was founded in 2009 with the reported intent to create a line of desirable, efficient, and environmentally friendly electric vehicles. The vehicles were also intended to be rugged, rather than luxurious, as RJ Scaringe is interested in an outdoor lifestyle and wants a vehicle that can go off-road and keep up with that lifestyle.
Originally, the company was called Mainstream Motors and would be renamed to Rivian Automotive. It began with what was called an efficient sports car, with the early prototype being a small electric coupe. However, by 2012, RJ Scaringe's vision for Rivian had changed to focus on demonstrating a technology-focused vehicle that could eliminate long-accepted compromises, including delivering a combination of efficiency, on-road performance, off-road capability, functional utility, and product refinement. This included a shift toward thinking about the truck, SUV, and crossover segments of the automotive market as the opportunity for Rivian.
Rivian is also focused on manufacturing. For example, RJ Scaringe has had the company focus on developing advanced battery systems to increase the vehicle's range and capability while designing a skateboard-like chassis, which can be sold to other automakers and allow Rivian to develop multiple vehicles on a single chassis. Ford Motors, an investor in Rivian, has used its technology to help develop its electric vehicles.
With RJ Scaringe's and Rivian's shift in 2012 away from sportscars and sedans towards more utility-focused vehicles, also came a change in strategy away from teasing concept cars and only showing finished products. This resulted in Scaringe giving a twenty-minute presentation at the LA Auto Show in 2018, in which he showed off Rivian's R1S SUV and the R1T truck. The strategy, referred to as a "true stealth" strategy, saw Rivian show nothing of the R1S and R1T until they were complete vehicles. Scaringe's philosophy was to not tease vehicles until Rivian knows it can deliver them to potential customers.
Amazon is another investor in Rivian, and the company has contracted Rivian to build 100,000 electric delivery trucks as part of Amazon's plans to be carbon neutral by 2040. Scaringe has noted that he wants Rivian to use these partnerships to develop its own battery cells and help Rivian develop its Driver+ driver assistance system, which works to develop a more hardware-constrained driver assistance system that can be applied across a wider range of vehicles and can be sold as its own system. The Driver+ system is also, according to Scaringe, to work toward full vehicle autonomy and take the learning offered by being installed in Rivian's consumer and commercial vehicles.
Based on his development of an American-based electric vehicle company, RJ Scaringe is often compared to Tesla CEO Elon Musk. However, the two tend to be quite different, with RJ Scaringe preferring to stay out of the spotlight and not hype up the company's vehicles, as opposed to Elon Musk. At the same time, Rivian has noted in the company's prospectus that Rivian is RJ Scaringe. The company says, in its risk factors, that Rivian is dependent on the services and reputation of RJ Scaringe, who has a significant influence on and is the driver of the company's business plan. It goes on to say that in the case of any damage to RJ Scaringe or his reputation would lead to a significant disadvantage for Rivian.
RJ Scaringe is married to Meagan Scaringe, with whom he has three children. The family splits their time between Irvine, California, where Rivian is headquartered, and Bloomington-Normal, Illinois, where Rivian's main manufacturing plant is located. He has said that he gives almost 100 percent of his life to Rivian, and his family only receives around 5 percent of his attention. However, the family travels together often, especially as RJ Scaringe loves adventuring outdoors.