Rivian buys Third Dimension to rebuild rare fleet moments as 3D simulations for its self-driving software

Rivian now processes more than 400,000 driving sequences from its customer fleet every day. The automaker has acquired Third Dimension, a 15-person startup based in the United Kingdom, to turn that raw footage into 3D test environments. This move is designed to accelerate the development of Rivian's self-driving system. TechCrunch first reported the transaction, and Rivian has not disclosed the purchase price.

Third Dimension was founded in 2024 by Tolga Kart and Piotr Sokólski. Kart previously spent more than two years on Tesla's Autopilot simulation team and served as a senior director on Call of Duty at Activision. Sokólski worked for four years at Wayve, where he built photorealistic neural simulators for autonomous vehicles. In October 2024, the company raised a $7 million seed round led by Felicis. The startup originally targeted game studios, film production, and the US military as potential customers.

All 15 employees of Third Dimension are joining Rivian's autonomy and AI group. The team is led by James Philbin, who oversees that division. The acquisition also expands Rivian's physical presence in London, where most of the acquired staff are based. Philbin told TechCrunch that simulation is central to training and validating autonomous driving systems. He described Third Dimension's technology as a tool that turns real-world data into detailed 3D environments.

The system relies on camera data shared by owners of the R1S, R1T, R2, and commercial vans. Most of the daily footage shows routine driving. Engineers focus on rare events that challenge autonomous systems, such as a mattress in the fast lane or a police officer waving traffic through a red light. By recreating these specific scenes in 3D, engineers can alter variables and test the software without waiting for the event to happen again on a real street.

Rivian is not the only company using this method. Waymo unveiled its Waymo World Model in February, which uses Google DeepMind's Genie 3 to generate scenarios vehicles have not encountered. Tesla has also demonstrated a neural world simulator for its Full Self-Driving software. The new Rivian team brings specific experience in building these synthetic environments from previous roles at those competitors.

The acquisition occurs as Rivian faces strict deadlines for its robotaxi rollout. In March, Uber agreed to invest up to $1.25 billion in Rivian to deploy R2 robotaxis. Only $300 million of that amount is paid upfront. The remainder depends on Rivian meeting specific autonomy milestones. The first milestone requires 10,000 driverless R2 vehicles on Uber's network in San Francisco and Miami by 2028.

Consumer timelines for Rivian's driving features have already shifted. A point-to-point driving feature is scheduled to reach a small group of invited Autonomy+ owners later this year. Those testers are required to sign a nondisclosure agreement. CEO RJ Scaringe originally promised eyes-off driving for 2026 in January 2025. That target has moved to 2027. Level 4 capability is planned for 2028 on the Gen 3 hardware shown at Rivian's AI & Autonomy Day.