Rivian Acquires 15-Person UK Team to Process 400,000 Daily Driving Sequences
The acquisition brings in specialists to convert fleet camera footage into 3D test environments for the company's autonomy program.
By Luana Sato ·
Rivian has acquired Third Dimension, a 15-person startup based in the United Kingdom, to rebuild real roads as 3D test environments for its self-driving system. TechCrunch first reported the deal, which Rivian did not price publicly.
Third Dimension was founded in 2024 by Tolga Kart and Piotr Sokólski. Kart previously worked on Autopilot simulation at Tesla and led engineering at Parallel Domain. Sokólski spent four years at Wayve building neural simulators for self-driving cars. The company raised a $7 million seed round led by Felicis in October 2024.
The entire team is joining Rivian's autonomy and AI group, led by James Philbin. This move expands Rivian's presence in London, where most of the acquired staff are based. Philbin told TechCrunch that simulation is central to training and validating the company's autonomous driving systems. He added that Third Dimension has built technology that turns real-world data into detailed 3D environments.
The new unit will use footage from owners of the R1S, R1T, R2, and commercial vans who opt into camera data sharing. Philbin said the fleet sends back more than 400,000 driving sequences every day. Engineers will recreate rare, challenging scenes in 3D to test the system, rather than waiting for those specific events to occur naturally on the road.
Examples of such rare events include a mattress in the fast lane, a police officer waving traffic through a red light, or a child running between parked cars. Waymo and Tesla have also developed similar neural world simulators for their respective self-driving efforts.
Rivian faces specific deadlines for its autonomy rollout. Uber agreed in March to invest up to $1.25 billion in Rivian to deploy R2 robotaxis, with $300 million paid upfront. The remaining investment depends on milestones, including 10,000 driverless R2 vehicles operating in San Francisco and Miami from 2028.
Rivian's point-to-point driving feature is due to reach a small group of invited Autonomy+ owners later this year. CEO RJ Scaringe moved the target for eyes-off driving from 2026 to 2027, and Level 4 capability is planned for 2028 on Gen 3 hardware.
