Pininfarina’s design legacy spans eight decades of automotive excellence, but the firm has increasingly turned its attention to spaces people inhabit rather than just vehicles they drive. The AI Transformer Home series marks the studio’s most ambitious exploration of that territory yet: modular, expandable dwellings that treat mobility as a core feature instead of an afterthought. Working with AC Future, Pininfarina applied its signature approach to proportion, surface treatment, and user experience, creating homes that look equally compelling whether compressed for travel or expanded for living.
The three models share a flexible platform but serve distinct use cases. The AI-THu functions as a 400-square-foot smart ADU, ideal for backyard installations or temporary deployments. The AI-THt eliminates the driving cabin entirely, relying on patented expansion technology to maximize interior volume when towed to a destination. The AI-THd combines both worlds, offering self-contained mobility with EV or diesel power and three-sided expansion that converts a compact motorhome into a surprisingly spacious residence. All three earned the 2025 Red Dot Design Concept Award, validating their blend of engineering innovation and aesthetic refinement.
Designer: Pininfarina for AC Future
That drivable AI-THd is the one that really grabs your attention, because it’s a direct shot across the bow of the entire luxury RV market. The specs are wild. It expands on three sides to create a 400-square-foot living space from a vehicle that starts at 26 feet long. AC Future is quoting a starting price of $328,000, which puts it in direct competition with high-end Class A motorhomes and premium Airstream trailers. The key difference is that a traditional RV’s slide-outs give you a few extra feet of width, while this thing nearly doubles its physical footprint. Its cockpit even converts into a separate room, a clever use of space that most motorhomes completely waste once parked.
This whole concept hinges on the expansion mechanism, which is far more sophisticated than a simple slide-out. The AI-THt trailer, without a cab to worry about, is the purest expression of this technology. It’s a 24-foot towable box that unfolds into a legitimate small apartment. You are seeing a level of mechanical articulation that feels more like something from a sci-fi movie than a product you can actually reserve. The engineering challenge is immense: you have to manage plumbing, electrical, and structural integrity across moving walls and floors. AC Future’s patented system seems to have solved this, creating a rigid and fully insulated living space that deploys in minutes.
Beyond the mechanical wizardry, the off-grid capability is what pushes this into a new category. The homes are equipped with solar awnings that deploy during expansion and an atmospheric water generation system that literally pulls drinking water from the air. An onboard AI manages these resources, learning your habits to predict power and water needs, so you aren’t constantly checking gauges. This is true self-sufficiency, allowing for extended periods off-grid without sacrificing the comforts of a modern home, like a full-size kitchen and dual-zone climate control. It’s a closed-loop living system on wheels.
So who is actually buying this? The price tag puts it out of reach for the average van-lifer, and its high-tech complexity might intimidate the traditional RV crowd. AC Future is likely targeting a niche market of affluent digital nomads, tech entrepreneurs, and design aficionados who want a mobile base of operations that reflects their aesthetic and technological values. This is less a vehicle for visiting national parks and more a statement piece for living and working wherever you want. It’s a halo product, designed to showcase what’s possible when you fuse automotive design with smart architecture, pushing the entire industry to think beyond the beige fiberglass box.
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