This Week in Startups: F1 on Apple Vision Pro, Self-Driving, and Stablecoins (E2029)

Date: October 22, 2024
Host: Jason Calacanis
Guest Co-Host: Alex Wilhelm
Special Guest: John Leor, Co-Founder of Black Box Infinite

Episode Overview

This episode dives into cutting-edge themes at the intersection of technology, startups, and product design. Jason and Alex break down major news in AI-powered cloud computing, new immersive experiences on the Apple Vision Pro (notably a groundbreaking F1 racing app), the rapidly advancing self-driving car landscape, and the growing role of stablecoins in global payments.
A centerpiece of the episode is a rich discussion with John Leor, an innovator bridging Hollywood VFX and real-world product design, around why most spatial computing experiences are failing and how Black Box Infinite’s F1 app on Vision Pro is different.
The hosts close with data-driven debate around the safety of Tesla’s FSD (Full Self-Driving), regulatory scrutiny, and Stripe's acquisition of Bridge, reflecting the rising importance of blockchain payments.

Highlights & Key Segments

Foundry University & GPT Parody Apps [00:00–03:00]

• Jason & Alex riff on a humorous segment introducing parody GPT apps (like “Kamala GPT” and “Donnie GPT”) from public figures, poking fun at the proliferation of AI-generated personalities.
• Notable banter about demo days and fostering creativity in the startup ecosystem.

Prime Numbers & GPU Computing: The Modern Era [05:01–08:11]

• Major Announcement: Latest internet-wide computation project GIMPS discovered the largest known prime number (41 million digits) – the result of distributed GPU work across 17 countries.
  • "Here we see GPUs meeting mathematics and actually moving our understanding forward. I thought it was just a cool combination of stuff we've been talking about.” – Alex [05:41]
• Introduction of Datacrunch, a Finnish “neo cloud” startup offering GPUs-as-a-service, highlighting the AI-fueled demand for new compute models.

Special Guest: John Leor & The Vision Pro F1 Experience

The Origins of Black Box Infinite [08:18–11:53]

• John explains his background fusing VFX (notably for Marvel films) and digital product design:
  • "We're a bunch of weirdos who have... woven together a bunch of different disciplines to solve... the new problems... in technology and digital product design." – John [08:36]
• Digital product design is mature for traditional apps, "but none of that applies to AI, none of that applies to spatial interactions, none of that applies to these more immersive sensory experiences..." [09:02]

Rethinking Vision Pro: Why Current Apps Fall Short [11:14–15:26]

• Alex probes: Black Box’s F1 Vision Pro prototype went viral, as it showed what “magical immersive hallucination machines” should look like, not just floating rectangles.
  • “We were frustrated with many early use cases for the Vision Pro... more tablet and phone apps than magical experiences." – Alex [11:36]
• John describes the gap: "This is an incredible piece of technology... and every single experience I had seen was just using this to look at like rounded rectangles floating in space... you could buy a lot of monitors with $3,500." – John [11:53]
• The F1 concept had originated as a prize-winning idea for Formula 1, presented to Lewis Hamilton.

Demo Impact, Virality, and Building the Beta [14:08–16:51]

• The prototype amassed 60M+ views, with ESPN, MKBHD, others featuring it.
• John: "It was also the ultimate statement of what we do at Black Box Infinite—we look at the possibilities and start cracking the code." [14:35]
• Team in Prague built a full beta (“Laps” for Vision Pro)—Black Box Infinite now partners with them to keep pushing boundaries.
  • “If you were to watch the race yesterday… live in this experience, Laps, you would swear this was the official Formula 1 experience… it is so polished, so well-executed.” [26:06]

The "Movie Hologram" to Real-World Interface Pipeline [15:26–20:13]

• John describes how his VFX background (Iron Man, etc.) led to real tech consulting:
  • "Brands were basically... how do we close the gap between our practical technology and what we see in film?" [15:35]
• "Digital product design through its maturity has had the imagination just sort of drained... There are all these rules. And it’s this amazing… field, but so many people are just stuck following rules.” – John [19:03]
• Key Insight: Commercial incentive often sacrifices elegance for click-through, while film/fiction maximizes inspiration.

Explaining the F1 Vision Pro Experience [20:13–26:45]

• John and the hosts dig into what makes the experience magical:

  • Interactive 3D view of the racetrack
  • Instantly switch between all 20 drivers’ perspectives, see the entire field—undoing broadcast limitations
  • “There’s a story going on beyond those three cars at all times… Having this global view of the race… makes people want to watch who never cared about F1.” – John [23:06]

• The Laps beta: built live, unofficial, and “so sophisticated... you would swear this was the official Formula One experience.” [26:06]

• "You're almost like a venture capitalist like me... you make some brilliant design and then find people to build it and then partner with them…" – Jason [27:03]

Science Fiction Interfaces: Inspiration & Reality [29:35–37:41]

• John shares his favorite sci-fi tech moments and the craftsmanship in designing believable interfaces (ex: vibranium sand in Black Panther, the projected hallway illusion from Mission Impossible 3, logic trees in Westworld).
  • "To me, anywhere where you see something that's distinctly different, but where you can also understand what's driving it..." [29:53]
• "Science fiction is like a flywheel. You build something, put out technology like Vision Pro or ChatGPT, it inspires creatives to take it to the next level and then bring it back." – Jason [33:20]
• The future is not a style or a vibe: tech vision must escape period fashion.

Future of Product Design & Next-Level Experiences

• Alex’s vision: spatial computing can deliver the space sim game of his dreams; more generally, the future is rich with unforeseen possibilities.
  • "The future is going to be absolutely insane. I cannot overstate how much we still can't even… tap out what's possible with spatial, with AI..." – John [37:11]

Segment: Self-Driving, Tesla FSD, and Safety Statistics [38:53–54:51]

Real-World Adoption and Safety Data [39:25–47:34]

• Jason reports firsthand on Tesla’s FSD: intervention now needed only every 30–45 minutes, even on challenging roads.
  • "The technology is now such that you don't have to worry... we're getting close [to fully self-driving]." [39:25]
• Debate around regulatory scrutiny and activist detractors like Dan O'Dowd.
• Deep-dive on accident rates:
  • Tesla Autopilot: 1 crash every 7.1M miles
  • Tesla (no Autopilot): 1 per 1.29M miles
  • All US cars: 1 per 670K miles
  • FSD: only 2 known fatalities over 1.6 billion miles, ~1 in 800M miles.
    • "Much better than the 1.33 fatalities per 100 million miles—much better.” – Alex [48:18]
• Discussion of how to use advanced HUDs or AI to coach safer driving: showing speed, following distance, alerts, and even geofencing for young drivers.

Guest Drop-In: John Leor on Car UX [55:02–61:11]

• John returns for an impromptu unscripted segment.
  • "Across the board—expensive or cheap—all in-car digital experiences are the equal level of total trash. There’s so much opportunity for innovation..." [55:20]
  • Driving user experience is literally life-or-death—should be treated as a mission-critical design field.
• Advocates for in-vehicle interfaces that coach skill improvement, using subtle feedback (sound/haptic cues) for lane-keeping, alertness, and efficiency—rather than noisy alarms.

Quick Hits

Stripe Acquires Bridge for $1.1B: Stablecoins Come to Payments [63:10–68:30]

• Stripe’s purchase of Bridge (stablecoin acceptance and creation infrastructure) signals intention to make global e-commerce payments cheaper, riding the stablecoin (USDC, etc) adoption wave.
  • “Stablecoins... an actual use case for crypto. Turns out everyone wants dollars.” – Alex [65:54]
• Deal value is ~1% of Stripe's total worth, potentially transformative for lowering transaction costs.
  • “If the acquirer’s value increases by just 1%... they get the acquisition for free. That’s where the value is.” – Jason [66:43]

Notable Quotes

• John Leor [09:02]: “None of the mature digital product design patterns apply to AI, spatial interactions, or immersive sensory experiences.”
• Alex Wilhelm [21:27]: “What I think this prototype... Laps with a Z for Vision Pro... is so cool because it’s expanding the aperture. More data, more information, and therefore more enjoyment.”
• Jason Calacanis [27:03]: "You’re almost like a venture capitalist like me… you make some brilliant design and find people to build it…"
• John Leor [55:20]: “They’re all the equal level of total trash. There's so many opportunities for innovation, there's enormous headroom just for safety... User experience becomes a very mission-critical factor in that context.”

Episode Structure & Timestamps

| Segment | Timestamp | |-----------------------------------------------------------|-------------| | Cold open & GPT parody banter | 00:00–03:00 | | Prime numbers, GPU clouds, Datacrunch | 05:01–08:11 | | John Leor: Black Box Infinite, Vision Pro F1 | 08:18–27:59 | | Sci-fi interfaces, inspiration pipeline | 29:35–37:41 | | Tesla FSD, car UX, self-driving safety data | 38:53–54:51 | | John returns: why car UI is "total trash," sound as feedback | 55:02–61:11 | | Stripe x Bridge, stablecoin payments | 63:10–68:30 |

Final Thoughts

• The episode is a showcase of how inspiration from entertainment, raw technical innovation, and product design can come together to create "magical" new experiences.
• The panel, especially with John Leor’s insights, urges founders and designers to break out of mature but stagnating UI patterns, especially as AI and spatial computing change the field.
• On self-driving, raw data increasingly shows that supervised automation is already safer than human drivers, yet old norms and regulatory friction persist—meanwhile, the potential for improved UI/UX remains massive.
• In fintech, Stripe’s Bridge deal highlights stablecoins as crypto’s real world “killer app,” with the promise to disrupt payment costs at global scale.

For more:

• Follow the hosts: @Jason and @Alex on Twitter
• Check out Black Box Infinite at blackboxinfinite.com
• Listen live and join the chat for future TWiST episodes

“You put all the best science fiction minds together and we’re still not going to be able to tap out what’s possible with the future of spatial, with the future of AI… It’s going to happen unbelievably quickly.” – John Leor [37:11]