Rivian Acquires UK Startup Third Dimension to Bolster Self-Driving and Robotaxi Development

Rivian has acquired Third Dimension, a UK-based AI startup that converts images and video into lifelike 3D worlds, to accelerate development of its advanced driver assistance features and the self-driving system for robotaxis it plans to supply to Uber. Terms were not disclosed. The 15-person team, founded in 2024 by CEO Tolga Kart and Piotr Sokolski, will join Rivian's autonomy and AI team led by James Philbin, expanding the automaker's London AI hub. Third Dimension had raised $7 million in seed funding from investors including Abstract Ventures, MVP, Soma Capital and Solari Capital. Rivian will apply the technology to simulation, using AI-matched virtual environments built from its fleet data. Rivian collects anonymized driving data from tens of thousands of R1T pickups, R1S SUVs, delivery vans and R2 SUVs, receiving more than 400,000 sequences uploaded daily, according to Philbin. The simulator is intended to test complex driving conditions without waiting for rare real-world edge cases to occur.