As the world spins on into the unknown and the seasons circle sideways out of turn, the idea of getting away from it all has never been more attractive. Perhaps that explains the rash of conceptual and production visions for mobile retreats from the chaos and uncertainty of the world. The Cocoon-Freelancer, RollAway Hospitality's electric camper van, the Pebble Flow, the Expandable Mansion, Living Vehicle’s Creative Studio, and many more, all beguile us with their implications of a bucolic idyll, a place to live and work in peace.
Design agency Pininfarina has refined and expanded the drivable travel trailer concept it created for AC Future and showed off last year at CES. For the 2025 show, AC Future presented a spread of three models, the AI-THu (AI Transformer Home Unit), the AI-THt (AI Transformer Home Trailer) and the original AI-THd (AI Transformer Home Drivable).
As the names suggest, the models scale up, starting with the AI-THu. This will be the first product to hit the market and is also perhaps the simplest. Designed to sit on a stationary base, the AI-THu is intended as a simple yet sophisticated way of extending one’s living space to accommodate an office or additional bedroom.
The structure itself covers a total of 400 sq ft and in Premium trim it includes multi-zone HVAC and sound system, in addition to smart home systems. Additional modules can also be combined to expand the living spaces, with patios and terraces and even BBQ set-ups available.
It’ll be joined by the AI-THt, the ‘Transformer Home Trailer’, a 24ft-long travel trailer with sliding extensions that also give it a 400 sq ft floorplan, more than double its size when in travelling mode. Inside, the furnishings and fittings are designed to be flexible to accommodate a variety of uses. As with all three models, Pininfarina has combined its transportation expertise with architectural inspiration.
Finally, there’s the AI-THd, a fully self-contained AI Transformer Home Drivable. Essentially the AI-THt model with an added driver’s module, this squared-off RV uses the same sliding expansion elements and flexible interior design as its haulable sibling.
Francisco Barboza, Pininfarina of America’s Senior Design Manager, describes the principal challenge of the project as how to maintain an ‘efficient floor plan while accommodating the complexity of the opening systems. We aimed to create an iconic object that resonates with people and their surroundings.’
First deliveries are expected in Q4 2026, with more details about the AI aspect of the smart home systems to be released in due course. AC Future, based in Irvine, California, is setting out to ‘redefine the concept of mobile living.’ It’s pairing this push into sleek, modern mobility with a side hustle in AI smart home technologies.
Teaming up with Pininfarina, one of the world’s most respected and historic design consultancies, and its American studio, has given AC an edge. ‘Our collaboration with Pininfarina has developed sustainable living designs that are beautiful and adaptable to the evolving needs of modern living,’ says Laura Czarnecki, co-CEO of AC Future.
AI-THu: AI Transformer Home Unit, from $98,000, ACFuture.com, @ACFuturereal
