Rivian buys Third Dimension AI to turn real roads into 3D test worlds
Rivian buys Third Dimension AI to turn real roads into 3D test worlds

Rivian has bought Third Dimension AI, a startup that turns real-world camera footage into 3D scenes. The carmaker will use them to train and test its driver assistance and self-driving software. Rivian announced the deal on Thursday and did not disclos…

Maxinsights raises $30M to turn everyday chores into robot training data
Maxinsights raises $30M to turn everyday chores into robot training data

Maxinsights pays people to wear cameras while they cook, clean and work. The Santa Clara startup has now raised $30M in seed funding to turn that footage into training data for robots. Peak XV led the round, the company announced on Thursday. Tola Capi…

Xona raises $250M at a $2.45B valuation to build a rival to GPS
Xona raises $250M at a $2.45B valuation to build a rival to GPS

Xona, a California startup building a satellite navigation network in low Earth orbit, has raised $250 million at a $2.45 billion valuation. Steve Jurvetson’s Future Ventures led the Series D, Xona said on Thursday. The round comes seven months after a…

Google funds a 1GW virtual power plant with Voltus on the PJM grid
Google funds a 1GW virtual power plant with Voltus on the PJM grid

Google will fund a 1 gigawatt virtual power plant run by Voltus on the PJM grid, to supply capacity for its operations there. The deal adds 1,070 megawatts to the 100 megawatts the two agreed in June, the companies said on Thursday. PJM serves 67 milli…

Web Summit survey: 59% in tech say AI has increased their workload
Web Summit survey: 59% in tech say AI has increased their workload

Almost six in 10 people working in tech say AI has added to their workload rather than cutting it. That is the headline finding of Web Summit’s first State of the Industry report, published on Thursday. Some 59% said their workload had increased, 20% s…

Korean AI data centre firm Elice sinks 32% in a record-worst IPO debut
Korean AI data centre firm Elice sinks 32% in a record-worst IPO debut

Shares in Elice, a South Korean AI data centre company, fell 32% on their first day of trading in Seoul on Tuesday. It was the worst debut on record for a Korean IPO of $100m or more, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, as Yoolim Lee and Youkyung …

Ex-DeepMind researcher Thore Graepel launches London AI lab Metis Reasoning
Ex-DeepMind researcher Thore Graepel launches London AI lab Metis Reasoning

Thore Graepel, who helped build Google DeepMind’s AlphaGo, has launched Metis Reasoning in London. The company’s founding claim is that large language models cannot be trusted to reason. Its founders want to apply the lessons of AlphaGo to general reas…

Ex-OpenAI research chief Bob McGrew’s Arda raises $232M for US factories
Ex-OpenAI research chief Bob McGrew’s Arda raises $232M for US factories

Arda Industries, founded by OpenAI’s former research chief Bob McGrew, has come out of stealth with $232 million in funding, the company announced on Tuesday. Its AI software turns new product designs into working assembly lines. The total includes a $…

ASI hits a $3bn valuation as its AI moves from air traffic to the grid
ASI hits a $3bn valuation as its AI moves from air traffic to the grid

ASI has raised $325 million in a Series C round that values it at $3 billion, the Boston AI company announced on Tuesday. Its software models air traffic, power grids and military operations hours, days and weeks ahead. The aim is to let operators act …

Reliable Robotics tops a $1bn valuation with $115M for self-flying planes
Reliable Robotics tops a $1bn valuation with $115M for self-flying planes

Reliable Robotics has raised $115 million, taking its valuation past $1 billion, the company announced on Tuesday. The Mountain View, California, startup builds systems that let existing aircraft taxi, take off, fly and land on their own. The money ext…