🔓 Remix Reality Insider: Flying Cars Are Finally Real

Your premium drop on the systems, machines, and forces reshaping reality.

🛰️ The Signal

This week’s defining shift.

Apple continues to invest in its vision for spatial computing.

The company is showing its continued commitment to its spatial computer, Vision Pro, through major updates across hardware and software. These moves signal Apple sees immersive computing as the next chapter of its platform strategy.

This week’s news surfaced signals like these:

• Apple Vision Pro Gets M5 Chip and Comfort Upgrade: A refreshed headset powered by the new M5 chip and redesigned Dual Knit Band improves performance, comfort, and energy efficiency. Running visionOS 26, it supports more than 3,000 spatial apps and hundreds of immersive experiences.
• Apple Expands Immersive Web Capabilities on visionOS with New Safari Update: Safari 26 adds support for 3D models, Apple Immersive Video, and WebGPU, making the browser a destination for spatial experiences built on open web standards.
• Spectrum to Stream Lakers Games in Apple Immersive Format on Vision Pro: Spectrum and the NBA will stream select Los Angeles Lakers games live in Apple Immersive Video, captured using Blackmagic’s URSA Cine Immersive camera. The broadcasts bring real-time sports into an immersive format that puts viewers courtside.

Why this matters: Despite skepticism about the success of its first-generation spatial computer, Apple continues to press forward. These updates show a clear commitment to making spatial computing real, refining the technology, expanding its ecosystem, and positioning Vision Pro as more than an experiment.

🧠 Reality Decoded

Your premium deep dive.

This week on Remix Reality, we welcome our first contributor, Catherine Henry, who brings over a decade of experience covering spatial computing technologies. Catherine’s deep dive into flying cars and personal aviation shows that these technologies are no longer science fiction or distant prototypes. They’re entering real-world production and early adoption.

Here are a few key points that stood out:

• Personal aerial vehicles, from ultralight eVTOLs to hybrid roadable aircraft, are beginning limited commercial sales under emerging FAA frameworks. Companies like Volonaut, AeroMobil, Jetson, and XPENG are leading the charge with different approaches to personal flight.
• Advances in materials, automation, and AI navigation are making these machines safer, more efficient, and easier to use. The move from road to sky is quickly becoming a practical new form of everyday mobility.
• As regulations evolve, personal aviation could redefine distance, urban design, and equity, but this raises new questions about who controls the air above us and how sustainable mass flight can be.

Key Takeaway:
Flying cars are no longer fiction. The real work now lies in building the infrastructure and governance to make them part of everyday life.

📡 Weekly Radar

Your weekly scan across the spatial computing stack.

🚗 Waymo to Launch Driverless Ride-Hailing in London by 2026

• Waymo plans to launch its fully autonomous ride-hailing service in London in 2026, with no human drivers in the vehicle.
• Why this matters: UK marks another big move for Waymo as they continue to expand rapidly with new service areas across the U.S. and now worldwide.

🤖 Diligent Robotics Joins AARP Accelerator to Bring Moxi to Senior Care Communities

• Diligent Robotics has been accepted into the AgeTech Collaborative from AARP, an 8-week program for early-stage technology companies focused on aging.
• Why this matters: Expanding into senior care feels like a natural next step for Diligent, and with AARP’s backing, it’s well-positioned to accelerate into this adjacent market.

💻 NVIDIA Starts Shipping AI Supercomputer DGX Spark for Physical AI Development

• NVIDIA has begun shipping DGX Spark systems globally, enabling local development of agentic and physical AI.
• Why this matters: Traditional PCs and workstations weren’t built for today’s AI demands. DGX Spark puts a full AI supercomputer on the desktop, stacked, local, and ready to support the next wave of agentic and physical AI development.

📞 Webex Adds 3D Model Collaboration for Apple Vision Pro

• Cisco’s new feature lets Webex users manipulate and co-explore 3D models during live meetings in Vision Pro.
• Why this matters: This new feature allows meetings to make better use of spatial computing. 3D models are especially useful for brainstorming, prototyping, design, and education, and bringing teams around models together is something flat screens just can’t match.

🕶️ Snap Announces Major Brand Partners for AR Glasses Ahead of Consumer Launch

• Snap announced that Lenses from Paramount, ILM Immersive, Tripadvisor, and Figma will be available for its AR glasses, Spectacles.
• Why this matters: Brand partnerships are critical for a consumer rollout of AR glasses, and so Snap's announcement today is a move in the right direction. Consumers will be looking at the content just as much as they will at the device, and well-known names like Tripadvisor and Star Wars can tip the scale for adoption.

👻 Snap Celebrates 4 Million Lenses and a Decade of AR

• Snap celebrates 400,000 creators and 4 million Lenses over the past 10 years and introduced new tools, including ML-powered effects and Lens Studio AI.
• Why this matters: Snapchat has been one of the most important forces in shaping augmented reality and spatial computing, consistently proving its commitment to advancing the medium. Their investment in AI is not only expanding what is possible for mobile AR but also who can create with it.

🌐 Apple Expands Immersive Web Capabilities on visionOS with New Safari Update

• WebKit now supports interactive 3D models via the new <model> HTML element on visionOS.
• Why this matters: This Safari release delivers major upgrades in immersive media, further positioning the browser as a more capable destination for publishing rich, spatial content.

🌱 Ecorobotix Secures $105M to Scale Real-Time, Centimeter-Precise Crop Spraying

• Ecorobotix raised $150 million across Series C and D rounds to expand its real-time AI spraying platform.
• Why this matters: Reducing chemical use by up to 95% delivers real impact, lower costs for farmers, and less environmental harm. Ecorobotix shows how AI and precision spraying can solve both challenges at once.

🏙️ 375ai Secures $10M to Scale Edge Intelligence for Real-World AI

• 375ai raised an additional $5 million to expand its edge data intelligence network, bringing total funding to $10 million.
• Why this matters: Partnering with Outfront Media gives 375ai front-row access to the flow of real life, including cars and people. That kind of placement turns raw street-level noise into structured data intelligence.

🎭 Imvizar Launches Immersive AR Experience at TCL Chinese Theatre

• Imvizar has launched a free AR experience at the TCL Chinese Theatre during LA Tech Week.
• Why this matters: Mobile AR remains the most accessible way to engage users as an effective tool for turning real-world locations into interactive storytelling platforms.

🌀 Tom's Take

Unfiltered POV from the editor-in-chief.

The return of Nintendo’s Virtual Boy for the Switch hit me with a wave of nostalgia. It pulled me straight back to the '90s, when arcades and home gaming systems were experimenting with ways to make gaming feel more physical.

Two experiences from that era still stand out to me. Sega’s Time Traveler holographic game and Virtuality's VR arcade system. I tried both of these when I was a teen in the '90s, and they made me feel, for the first time, that digital worlds could feel just as real as this physical reality.

Sega's Time Traveler wasn’t really holographic, but when you stood in front of that curved mirror of the arcade cabinet and saw life-size actors floating in midair, it didn’t matter. It was pure magic. It was my first real taste of augmented reality, long before the term existed in the mainstream. Watching those tiny figures come alive in light and glass (using Pepper's Ghost) made me believe games could live in the same space as we do.

Then there was my first VR experience, which took place in a bright colored pod at Canada’s Wonderland from Virtuality. Virtuality gave many people their first taste of virtual reality, long before most homes had a personal computer. The headset was massive, the visuals were simple, and the motion was far from smooth. But stepping into that world felt like entering the future. For a moment, the screen wasn’t there at all.

Looking back, those early systems were rough, but they revealed what immersion truly means. It isn’t about visuals or performance but about presence, that brief moment when the digital world feels real.

I think that we are still chasing that same feeling today, with headsets, smartglasses, and spatial displays that trace their roots back to these early experiments. At their core, all of these efforts stem from the belief that immersive technology can make us part of the digital experience instead of outside spectators.

🔮 What’s Next

3 signals pointing to what’s coming next.

1. Wearables are becoming jewelry
   ŌURA’s $900 million raise to expand its smart ring globally and Taya’s launch of an AI-powered necklace point to a new generation of devices designed to be worn, not carried. Both companies are blending fashion, sensing, and AI into devices that look like jewelry. They signal a future where technology becomes something you wear as an accessory, just as much for the look as for its function.
2. Mobile AR is getting easier to build
   Snap’s new Lens Studio AI lets creators describe what they want and have AR effects generated automatically, while Imvizar’s no-code Lureo platform allows anyone to publish location-based experiences with its drag-and-drop interface. These tools lower the barrier to making augmented reality, moving creation from specialists to storytellers. With mobile still the most accessible spatial device, no-code and AI-assisted platforms are setting the stage for an explosion of everyday AR content.
3. Content is the competitive edge for Snap’s AR glasses
   Snap is preparing for its 2026 consumer launch of its AR glasses, Specs, by building a strong lineup of content. At Lens Fest, the company announced experiences from Star Wars, Avatar, Tripadvisor, and Figma, designed to show how Specs will offer everything from gaming to everyday utility. Niantic also revealed a new version of its AR companion, Peridot, that uses Spectacles to navigate real spaces and respond with emotional awareness. With familiar brands on board, Snap is making content the core reason to wear its glasses.

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Disclosure: Tom Emrich has previously worked with or holds interests in companies mentioned. His commentary is based solely on public information and reflects his personal views.