diff --git a/services/gpuservice/tests/unittests/Android.bp b/services/gpuservice/tests/unittests/Android.bp
index 4fb0d2e..86f6c7f 100644
--- a/services/gpuservice/tests/unittests/Android.bp
+++ b/services/gpuservice/tests/unittests/Android.bp
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@
     header_libs: ["bpf_headers"],
     shared_libs: [
         "libbase",
+        "libbinder",
         "libbpf_bcc",
         "libcutils",
         "libgfxstats",
diff --git a/services/gpuservice/tests/unittests/GpuStatsTest.cpp b/services/gpuservice/tests/unittests/GpuStatsTest.cpp
index 20c8ccf..0baf1f9 100644
--- a/services/gpuservice/tests/unittests/GpuStatsTest.cpp
+++ b/services/gpuservice/tests/unittests/GpuStatsTest.cpp
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
 #define LOG_TAG "gpuservice_unittest"
 
 #include <unistd.h>
+#include <binder/ProcessState.h>
 #include <cutils/properties.h>
 #include <gmock/gmock.h>
 #include <gpustats/GpuStats.h>
@@ -79,6 +80,10 @@
     void SetUp() override {
         mCpuVulkanVersion = property_get_int32("ro.cpuvulkan.version", 0);
         mGlesVersion = property_get_int32("ro.opengles.version", 0);
+
+        // start the thread pool
+        sp<ProcessState> ps(ProcessState::self());
+        ps->startThreadPool();
     }
 
     std::unique_ptr<GpuStats> mGpuStats = std::make_unique<GpuStats>();