Rivian buys world model startup to accelerate self-driving ambitions
Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.
Electric vehicle manufacturer Rivian has acquired the UK-based startup Third Dimension, founded by industry veterans using AI to create lifelike 3D worlds from images and videos. While Rivian is not entering the gaming sector, it aims to utilize Third Dimension's technology to efficiently build 3D worlds, thereby accelerating the development of advanced driver assistance features and self-driving systems for its robotaxis intended for Uber.
The 15-person team from Third Dimension, primarily located in the UK, will be integrated into Rivian's autonomy and AI team, led by James Philbin. This acquisition also enables Rivian to enhance its AI hub in London, according to Philbin.
Originally developed to expedite video game creation, Third Dimension's technology was seen by its founders Tolga Kart and Piotr Sokolski for broader uses, including defense and autonomous vehicles. Now focused on automated driving, the founders expressed excitement about concentrating on a single problem at Rivian, which offers a significant scale where their technology can make a substantial impact.
Simulation plays a crucial role in autonomous vehicle development, enabling developers to train and validate self-driving systems. However, these simulators, often based on rendering or video game engines, frequently rely on synthetic data. Discrepancies between virtual environments and the real world persist, typically requiring the input of increasing data volumes to bridge this gap.
Third Dimension's AI-driven approach matches the physical world, potentially complementing Rivian's extensive data sets to create a robust simulator. Rivian amasses driving data from tens of thousands of R1S pickup trucks, SUVs, delivery vans, and R2 SUVs, including any vehicle with enabled external camera sharing. The company uses anonymized data to build training models for driving.
With over 400,000 sequences uploaded from its customer fleets daily, Third Dimension's technology will enable Rivian to simulate complex driving conditions without waiting for rare real-world edge cases, according to Philbin.
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