INSTEAD OF SUPERCARS, PININFARINA NOW BUILDS AI RVS

In its decades-long history, Pininfarina is best known for designing some of the most beautiful cars ever created, including the Battista, but it also designs more utilitarian products like the Coke Freestyle machine you've probably seen at Wendy's or AMC. This latest product combines a bit of both, letting the design studio work with living solutions company AC Future to create a new generation of RV.

AC Future says that the AI-Thu will go on sale first. The name is short for AI Transformer Home Unit, and it's a stationary smart home meant to be set in one place and left there.

Smart Home Living Meant To Be Installed Almost Anywhere

The Ai-Thu offers a 400-square-foot living space plus a 40-square-foot outdoor patio. AC Future says it can "effortlessly shift," becoming a mobile office one minute, and a comfortable lounge the next. There is a main bedroom, with private access, that includes expandable storage options.

This unit is set to go on sale starting from $98,000. Like all of the AI offerings, it will offer 5kW in solar panels, water recovery, and even atmospheric water generation for off-grid living. The model will also include AC Future's AI smart home technology. The company says it can be installed anywhere, on or off the grid, and suggests that it would be ideal for vacation properties or even emergency housing.

RV And Travel Trailer Offer AI Tech And Expandability On The Go

It's the other two units that have our automotive attention, though, starting with the AI-THd or AI Transformer Home Drivable. The AI-THd is the one that is a vehicle, and it was the first of the trio that Pininfarina designed.

Neither Pininfarina nor AC Future mention a price or the vehicle-side specs for this model, but this is essentially a high-tech Class A RV. It's meant to be expandable when you reach your site, nearly doubling its size to deliver a larger living space; going from 195 to 400 square feet is more than existing slide-out campers can dream of. The cockpit can also be turned into a mobile office or even a second bedroom for maximum space.

Or you can use it to tow the AI-THt or Transformer Home Trailer. That's the 24-foot trailer behind the drive module that can expand to offer 400 square feet of living space once you're at your destination. The company describes it as "delivering a new standard of living" with flexible living spaces and furniture arrangements.

AC Future says that the design will offer a lower carbon footprint than other options, but does not say how it will accomplish that. It does say that the exterior design will help improve electric driving range and towing performance of the vehicle - which is likely to be an EV - in front of it.

The "new paradigm of living solutions" is set to hit the market in Q4 of 2026. AC Future had them on display at CES, and reservations are open now.

2025-01-10T03:42:10Z