Rivian acquires Third Dimension to build driving simulations

Rivian has bought Third Dimension, a U.K. startup whose artificial intelligence technology creates realistic three-dimensional environments from images and video. The electric-vehicle maker plans to use the technology to develop driver-assistance capabilities and autonomous driving for robotaxis it intends to supply to Uber.

Financial terms were not disclosed. Third Dimension’s 15 employees, mostly based in the U.K., will become part of Rivian’s autonomy and AI operation under James Philbin. Philbin said in an interview that the purchase also offers an opportunity to grow Rivian’s London AI hub.

Philbin said the startup’s technology will let Rivian test complex driving situations in simulation rather than wait for unusual events to happen on the road. Rivian already uses aggregated, anonymized driving data from customers who have enabled sharing from external cameras to build its training models. Customer fleets upload more than 400,000 sequences daily, he said.

CEO Tolga Kart and Piotr Sokólski founded Third Dimension in 2024. The startup raised $7 million in seed funding, with investors including Abstract Ventures, MVP, Soma Capital and Solari Capital.

Its technology was originally developed to make video game production faster, though the founders also identified potential uses in defense and autonomous vehicles. Under Rivian’s ownership, the team will concentrate on automated driving.