Rivian buys 15-person simulation startup Third Dimension AI for its self-driving and robotaxi work

Rivian has acquired Third Dimension AI, a startup founded in 2024 that uses AI to turn real-world images and video into controllable 3D environments, the EV maker said on Oct. 22. Terms were not disclosed. The 15-person team, mostly based in the U.K., joins Rivian's autonomy and AI group led by James Philbin, TechCrunch reported.

Rivian is paying for a way to manufacture rare driving situations, and road data is the thing it already has. Philbin told TechCrunch the company receives more than 400,000 sequences a day from customer vehicles whose owners share external camera data. Buying a scene generator on top of that volume suggests the rare cases are the harder part for its self-driving program. Rivian says the platform can rebuild a complex scenario and vary its conditions, so its autonomy models do not have to wait for rare edge cases to happen on real roads. Philbin said the technology will serve both its consumer and robotaxi roadmaps; TechCrunch noted that Rivian plans to supply robotaxis to Uber.

Third Dimension, founded by CEO Tolga Kart and Piotr Sokolski, built its tools to speed up video game development and raised $7 million in seed funding. TechCrunch described it as a world model startup. Kart said older simulators built on rendering or game engines, often fed synthetic data, still leave a gap with the real world.

The deal also gives Rivian a chance to expand its AI hub in London, Philbin said.