Rivian buys Third Dimension to turn road footage into virtual test drives

Rivian has bought Third Dimension, a U.K. startup that turns road images and video into editable three-dimensional simulations. Rather than waiting to encounter a difficult situation again on a real street, engineers can rebuild it digitally, alter the weather, lighting or behavior of other vehicles, and use the variations to train and pressure-test driving software. That matters because rare and risky cases are slow—and impractical—to test only on public roads; stronger simulations can make Rivian’s pool of vehicle-camera data far more useful. The startup’s 15-person team will join Rivian’s autonomy group as the automaker works toward supervised point-to-point driving and robotaxis planned for Uber in 2028; the purchase price was not disclosed.