AltoVolo's futuristic flying car

Good morning, tech enthusiasts. London-based startup AltoVolo just unveiled a futuristic hybrid flying vehicle that promises a 500-mile range, 220 mph speeds, and 80% less noise than a helicopter.

While eVTOL rivals Joby and Archer target the airtaxi market, AltoVolo’s Sigma has its sights set on private owners — with a design sleek and compact enough to land silently on a driveway. Is this bold vision the future of flying cars?

In today’s tech rundown:

• AltoVolo’s luxury hybrid flying vehicle

• Baby undergoes world-first gene therapy

• Apple’s VisionPro can now ‘see’ for you

• Uber launches low-priced shuttle service

• Quick hits on other major news

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

ALTOVOLO

 🛸 AltoVolo’s luxury hybrid flying vehicle

The Rundown: London-based startup AltoVolo has unveiled a sleek prototype of its Sigma hybrid electric flying vehicle that promises the power of a private jet in a three-seater drone you can quietly land on your driveway.

The details:

• The Sigma stands out for its hybrid-electric propulsion system, combining electric motors with a range-extending combustion engine for longer flights.

• With vertical takeoff and landing capabilities, it requires no runway—users can near-silently take off from driveways, rooftops, yachts.

• Sigma’s payload capacity of 270 kg allows it to transport three passengers, and its compact size—4.8m wide and 980 kg.—can fit into a two-car garage.

• AltoVolo is developing the Sigma with autonomous flight capabilities, offering point-to-point air mobility without the need for traditional piloting skills.

Why it matters: Sigma’s focus on personal use sets it apart from eVTOL rivals like Joby and Lilium, but the magic is in its range. The hybrid capabilities take it up to 510 miles, four times farther than other offerings. The company is preparing a full-scale demonstrator now, with a public waitlist opening in July. Price? That is anyone’s guess.

BIOTECH BREAKTHROUGH

 🧬 Baby undergoes world-first gene therapy

The Rundown: In a landmark fusion of precision medicine and genetic engineering, clinicians at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Penn Medicine pioneered a bespoke CRISPR therapy to save an infant with a deadly metabolic disorder.

The details:

• Born in August 2024, KJ Muldoon was diagnosed with a life-threatening rare metabolic disorder that impairs the body’s ability to remove ammonia.

• Doctors used a personalized CRISPR-based therapy tailored specifically to KJ’s unique CPS1 gene mutation, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach.

• The team engineered lipid nanoparticles to deliver a customized base-editing system to target specific liver cells.

• Remarkably, the therapy was developed in just six months under an FDA emergency authorization, with the first infusion administered in February 2025.

Why it matters: KJ has received three infusions containing billions of microscopic gene-editors that targeted the mutation in his liver, and so far, it seems to have corrected the defect. More work needs to be done to determine the treatment’s full efficacy, but it paves the way for rapid, individualized gene therapies for rare diseases.

APPLE

🍏 Apple’s Vision Pro can now ‘see’ for you

The Rundown: Apple has announced a suite of new accessibility features for its Vision Pro headset, set to launch later this year, that could transform the device into a powerful visual aid for users who are blind or have low vision.

The details:

• Vision Pro’s main camera acts as a digital magnifier, allowing users to zoom in on anything within their field of view, from real-world objects to text.

• A Live Recognition feature uses on-device machine learning to identify objects, read documents, and provide spoken descriptions of the environment.

• Apple is also opening up the Vision Pro’s passthrough camera APIs to enable third-party devs to offer remote visual assistance directly through the headset.

• Users can control accessibility features using voice commands, eye tracking, and gesture controls, allowing for seamless, hands-free operation.

Why it matters: These features could be a game-changer for those who need it, as long as you have $3,499 to spend on the Vision Pro. Still, Apple also announced a host of other accessibility features to its products coming this year, including a magnifier for Mac and live captions on Apple Watch, in its mission to bring accessibility to the masses.

UBER

🚘 Uber launches low-priced shuttle service

The Rundown: Uber has announced Route Share, a new fixed-route, shared ride service designed to function much like a private shuttle for urban commuters. At 50% cheaper than UberX, it’s the company’s most affordable ride option to date.

The details:

• The service launches initially in New York City, San Francisco, Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas, Boston, and Baltimore, with plans for future expansion.

• Service operates during peak weekday commute hours, from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.

• Pickups occur every 20 minutes at designated stops along the busiest routes, and riders are required to walk a short distance to pickup points.

• Riders can reserve a seat up to seven days in advance or as late as 10 minutes before departure, with vehicles carrying up to three people at a time.

Why it matters: Uber is also introducing a feature that lets riders secure a fixed price for rides on select routes for $2.99 a month, and prepaid passes for rides on regular routes. With fares up to 50% lower than standard UberX rides, Uber aims to lure price-sensitive commuters, and even sway a few diehard public transit riders.

QUICK HITS

📰 Everything else in tech today

Apple is finally rolling out its next-gen CarPlay, called CarPlay Ultra, on new Aston Martin vehicles orders in the U.S. and Canada.

Google is reportedly testing a redesign of its Search homepage by replacing “I’m Feeling Lucky” under the Search bar with “AI Mode.”

TikTok has been accused of breaching the EU’s digital advertising rules, making it the second platform after X to receive a warning under the Digital Services Act.

Meta has reportedly delayed the rollout of its flagship AI model dubbed “Behemoth” to June after engineers struggled to improve its capabilities.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates has said that he plans to give away 99% of his fortune over the next 20 years — but doing so could still leave him a billionaire.

AI notetaking app Granola has raised $42M in a Series B funding round at a $250M valuation and is launching a new collaborative feature that lets users share transcripts.

Threads is now allowing creators to share up to five personal links on their account bios while providing performance insights on how many people have visited the links.

Legal tech startup Harvey is reportedly in talks to raise more than $250M in funding at a $5B valuation.

Warner Bros. Discovery is renaming its streaming platform from Max to HBO Max after switching the name just two years ago.

Helsinki-based Wave Ventures, Europe’s largest Gen Z-led venture capital firm, just closed a €7M fund—triple the size of its previous fund.

Apple has blocked the "Fortnite" video game on its iPhones in the U.S. and through the game maker's store in the EU, its maker Epic Games said on X.

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Rowan, Jennifer, and Joey—The Rundown’s editorial team