Back in February 2024, I wrote a story about the AC Future Electric Transformer House (eTH). This RV, which promised to have the space of an apartment in the footprint of a big van, existed as nothing more than a bunch of renders that didn’t seem to fit together. Even weirder was how the company said the luxury RV was supposed to help solve California’s housing crisis. While I still have huge doubts about that last part, the folks of Pininfarina and AC Future have at least dismissed any doubts about it being vaporware. There is now a real working version of the so-called eTH out there and, my God, it’s about the size of an apartment.
Now, I do love to shine a light on promising upstarts, but AC Future seemed a little less believable than usual. This company had nothing to show for its existence but renders of an RV designed by the Italian design firm Pininfarina. But, as any startup can tell you, there’s a heck of a lot of work that goes into getting from rough renders to even just a working prototype.
Yet the team actually did it. At CES right now is a prototype AC Future Ai-Transformable Home that the company tells me is fully functional. Of course, having a prototype doesn’t guarantee production, but this is a lot further than other startups get. So let’s take a look at what the real-life version looks like.
Arthur Qin founded AC Future in 2021 in Silicon Valley with the ambitious goal of creating a lavish and tech-packed home on wheels. AC Future launched as a subsidiary of A&C Kings LLC and is a sibling company to A&C Technology Inc. Now, there are a ton of startups sprouting up in California promising to reinvent the RV. I mean, my coverage lately has been taken over by Pebble and Lightship, respectively.
What perplexed me about AC Future in 2024 was how it differentiated itself from the millions of other electric RV concepts. AC Future proudly proclaimed that its products were going to help solve the housing crisis. By AC Future’s math, the average house in California costs $600,000. However, its RV, which is sized to be about equivalent to a small apartment, costs $200,000. This has always puzzled me.
But, I love weird and innovative RVs so I’m still interested in seeing what’s going on here. Now we’re a year later and AC Future is showing off all of the work it has gotten done. All of the company’s concept vehicles have gotten major overhauls and most importantly, there’s finally a real working prototype version of the company’s flagship product. If you find yourself at CES 2025 I reckon the AC Future Ai-Transformable Home (Ai-TH) will be hard to miss.
The Motorhome
That’s right, the eTH is now the Ai-TH. The “Ai” is a nod to the fact that AC Future is advertising this motorhome as having AI-enabled smart technology. Since CES 2024, AC Future kicked its plans into high gear, partnering up with Hydra Design Labs to take the design penned by Pininfarina and turn it into something real. California-based Hydra advertises itself as a sort of one-stop shop for engineering, prototyping, design, and fabrication. That’s perfect for a small startup like AC Future that’s just trying to get its wheels turning.
AC Future describes what Hydra put into the project:
Pininfarina established the earliest concept for this vehicle, defining the overall aesthetic and functional identity. This served as a broad starting point only,  Hydra Design Labs then fully designed the interior and exterior of the vehicle for technical feasibility and production, while also preserving the integrity of Pininfarina’s original vision. For the final stages, Hydra Design Labs took on the critical task of engineering development, leveraging its technical expertise to ensure a seamless transition from concept to prototype.
There are three versions of the Ai-TH. There’s the Ai-THd, which is the drivable one. There’s the Ai-THt, which is the Ai-TH as a camper trailer. Finally, there’s the Ai-THu, which is the Ai-TH without any wheels.
Perhaps the biggest and most bombastic part about the Ai-THd is the fact that it has an expandable body that’s so huge that it doubles in size when it’s parked. AC Future says the Ai-THd has 195 square feet in driving mode. But when you park, you can extend the body’s slides to reach 400 square feet. Sliding parts have been a staple of the RV world for decades, but it’s not often you see a rig that can double its size at the touch of a button.
Admittedly, I’m not a huge fan of this space utilization. The RV has a huge slide hanging off of its left side, but all it contains is a comparatively microscopic futon.
The rest of the specs begin to fall off from there. AC Future says the Ai-THd has three slides, a choice of an EV or diesel powertrain, and more than 5 kW of roof solar. Like some of the survivalist RVs out there, the Ai-THd is said to have an atmospheric water generation system, a water recycling system, a water filtration system, and a solar-based water heater.
None of these features are groundbreaking, at least not as they’re currently being presented. You can buy an RV from Living Vehicle with the same long-term off-grid equipment onboard. Sadly, even though AC Future now has a working prototype we have no specifications for the running gear. I really want to know what kind of diesel engine this would have.
I’m a bit shocked that this thing is real. Here are photos right from the CES floor!
In the photos of the prototype, you can see how the Ai-TH is roughly the length of a Class B RV when it’s in its driving mode. Then, it expands to become roughly the size of a Class A motorhome. Now, it’s still a tall and undoubtedly heavy vehicle, so it’ll still drive like an RV. But it’s neat to have Class A space in a Class B footprint. To help facilitate the transforming body, AC Future says the furniture moves around to allow the space to get smaller and larger.
As of publishing, AC Future has not revealed a price estimate for the Ai-THd. However, a year ago the company figured it could get this on the market for $200,000.
The Trailer
The other roadgoing version of the Ai-TH is known as the Ai-THt, and it’s a futuristic Pininfarina-penned travel trailer. This one might be even more confusing than the motorhome. Why? Well, just read what AC Future says, emphasis mine:
Unlike traditional trailer homes, the AI-THt does not require a front driving cabin, resulting in a more spacious and premium interior environment that doubles in size when fully expanded. The exterior design of the AI-THt interprets architectural design elements, blending aesthetic sophistication with aerodynamic efficiency to improve towing performance and range. The result is a sleek, moving habitat that harmoniously merges with its environment.
I’m not sure what trailers AC Future has been looking at, but I cannot recall a single camper trailer or trailer home in existence with a “front driving cabin.” They’re trailers, so by their very nature, they do not have a driving section. Now, a number of folks in the AC Future team are engineers from other countries, so maybe there’s a translation error going on there.
What I think AC Future is trying to say is that, unlike a traditional motorhome, the Ai-THt is a trailer and doesn’t have a driving section. Why do I think that? In the renders, they show the front end of the trailer expanding out and over the tongue. You can’t do that with a motorhome’s front end.
The Ai-THt is being advertised as “America’s First AI-Transformer Home, Trailer” and the company says it’s 24 feet long in towing mode. Like the Ai-THd motorhome, the trailer uses its slides to double the camper’s footprint and length. This time we do get a bit more information and we’re told it expands to 38 feet long. The trailer also has slides on all four corners. Otherwise, all of the other features are the same as the motorhome.
The Mobile Home
AC Future says the first product that will reach customers is the Ai-THu, or the mobile home model. This one is touted as “America’s First AI-Transformer Home” and it’s essentially the same thing as the travel trailer, but instead of rolling on wheels, it’s lowered onto a stationary platform.
Otherwise, the spec sheet is the same. It has four slides, stretches out to 400 square feet, and maxes out at 38 feet long. It has all of the features noted in the other Ai-THs. That includes the fancy water generation and AI stuff. AC Future does give a price estimate for this one and says that when these go into production at the end of 2026, the stationary homes will start at $98,000 each.
AC Future says that all of these vehicles will “revolutionize housing” and “provide an AI-enabled solution to the American affordable and sustainable housing crisis.”
Sort of weird is the fact that AC Future mentions AI so much, but won’t say what that AI is going to do. The site and press releases just say that the vehicles use “AI smart home technology.”
What I Would Change
Now, I know I’m sounding negative, but I don’t mean to. I want to champion every cool RV I see and I think these look cool. But I see some glaring issues that I feel like I have to point out here.
Let’s start with the name. The previous name of Electric Transformer House (eTH) was already rough. This new one of Ai-Transformable Home (Ai-TH) is somehow worse. Having something like “Ai-THd” is as incomprehensible as Toyota naming an electric crossover the “bZ4X.” Please change the name to something less confusing.
I also love the company’s stated mission of solving the housing crisis. However, a truly poor person isn’t sitting on $200,000 or even $98,000. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the median price of a brand-new manufactured home is $148,100. You can get a mobile home for the price the Ai-THu will cost.
What I would do is take that stationary home and create a version of it with all of the luxury stuff removed, the AI stuff tossed in the trash, and the boondocking equipment relegated to being options. Sell that version at a truly rock-bottom price. Heck, maybe even sell that version without the expanding body for even cheaper.
Update: A reader has correctly pointed out that a truly low-income or unhoused individual would pay a subsidized rate to live in one of these. That’s great! But now I’m left wondering where all of these pods are going to end up parked. This is quickly beginning to sound like a mobile home park, something that already exists. AC Future has not indicated that these would be able to stack, so a Ready Player One-style highrise may also be out of the cards.
Again, I don’t like being negative. I like bringing news that makes you go “holy crap, that’s awesome” like it does to me. I think there are some good ideas here, but they need refinement if the mission is to help solve the housing crisis. Otherwise, as nifty RVs? Yeah, they’re pretty cool. It would be pretty awesome to roll up to a campground and double my camper’s size with just a touch of a button. I also love how there’s now at least a prototype RV out there that looks like a supercar in an XXXXL shirt.
If you’re still interested, AC Future says that its reservation banks are open now. Otherwise, it hopes to get these vehicles on the road and on platforms beginning toward the end of 2026. If you want to see the Ai-THd, you can find it at CES 2025 at North Hall, Booth 10515.
(Update: Added a clarification as to Hydra’s contribution to this project.)
Photos: AC Future
Top graphic images: AC Future; Yolopark
After you buy one of these please stop in for one of my $29.99 AI-Enhanced Burritos. They’re like the $9.99 Burritos but somehow better, thanks to AI.
Damn, I built a solar-powered RV (the house portion at least) with less than probably $10k all in. I feel like they should hire me for the price of one of these dumb (ohh, excuse me, “smart”) things and show them how to do more with less bullshit.
But then I’d have to put up with working for people like this sooo…
These prices are unrealistic by about 3x.
Also…the electric EV is a classic case of a solution looking for a problem. Gimme a hybrid!
Working in the California tech industry really rots your brain, doesn’t it? Seemingly complete ignorance of the root of any societal issue, just slap more technology on the problem!
The slide area (with the small and uncomfortable looking bench bolted to the wall) looks suspiciously impractical. If nearly the entire volume of that room has to telescope back into the body of the vehicle, then there’s no room for it to contain any other furnishings when it’s retracted — so you’d have to stick with hardly more than lawn furniture that you could fold up and stash somewhere. There’s no room for the typical upholstered couches or chairs that people would typically want in a living space and are included in conventional campers. Here, you get a big room that you can’t put anything into if you expect to close it up and drive it anywhere.
I also have my doubts that this display is really functional — I’m looking at the floor and ceiling of the slide-out section and wondering how they actually retract to allow the section to move in and out. In the display they’re perfectly flush with the adjoining floor and ceiling. So, how do they move? They have to move up or down to give sufficient space for the section to telescope in and out. The ceiling will have to be able to clear the space needed for the lighting units — several inches up or down. The floor will need clearance for its underlying structure or the structure of the main floor; again it will have to move several inches up or down before the unit can slide in or out. How is that going to be made weather-tight and structurally sound — in something that moves around on roads — even occasionally?
And let’s talk about that kitchen sink with the wood cutting board artfully placed across it to indicate how to use the space efficiently. Notice anything missing? Like a kitchen faucet? Where is it? I suspect that cutting board is hiding the hole in the countertop where it belongs. What happened to it? Did they run out of time assembling the demo and couldn’t get it installed? Did it get damaged while the slide-out room was being assembled?
I’d like to see the vehicle move under its own power — drive into place and set its leveling jacks down. Extend and retract the slide-out section like they say it works. But I suspect it’s all an elaborate mock-up; a prop like something for a movie. Smoke and mirrors put up as “proof” that its real to keep the venture capital money coming in.
If they can keep up the grift long enough to put anything into production, what we’ll get will probably be something vaguely styled like this demonstrator — but built on contract by Forest River or Thor on one of their existing platforms. Just another conventional motorhome or trailer with a full-width slide-out on one side, trendy decoration, and an upscale price tag.
Can we use RV technology to build a better tiny home and temporary overflow accommodations? Sure. Ideally, we should be building better-quality RVs that could serve as semi-permanent accommodations anyway. People do it already with Airstream trailers and Class A diesel pushers. Both of those options are pretty expensive, though, due to the unavoidable cost of building a durable movable house that won’t fall apart in a decade or less, plus the low volume of manufacturing.
More importantly, should we be focusing on lots of individualized mobile housing units as a “solution” to housing shortages, or should we be putting time, energy, and money into building proper multi-unit housing that will last and help form communities?
We already have the means to build temporary housing out of RVs and mobile homes. They could be built much better than they are — but that’s a discussion of capitalist practices for another day. What we have here seems like more of a “solution” in search of a new problem.
Unless, of course, the new problem is to provide more “upscale” temporary housing for persons in more “upscale” income brackets being displaced by economic hardships that are creeping higher and higher up the ladder — you know, the ones that have already displaced lower-income persons into mobile homes and RVs. In other words, just sweeping the same old problem under a fancier new rug.
Well the off-the-top concept is pure bullshit on their part. The people who can afford to buy one of these monsters are not experiencing a housing crisis, and probably own more than one house already.
Plus, unless they’re planning to charge significantly higher prices than current top-end class-As, which are already significantly more expensive than just buying a house on a square footage basis, this is not a viable replacement for a house.
They’d have to charge that much if they wanted to build it robust enough to actually be a home. Most RVs are built like garbage, as you know. Making them bigger certainly won’t make them fall apart slower.
I also don’t get what’s up with that notch in the roof parallel with the slideout. Last time I checked, making places on the roof that trap water was considered a *bad* idea for RV design.
Too bad they’re not in production currently they could probably sell a lot of these to celebs / wealthy domos who got burned out of their Calif homes last night. Could be a quick interim install on a burned out prime lot assuming the city would allow them.
Those people can live in their 2nd, 3rd or 4th home while their LA home is rebuilt.
I guess I don’t get it. Pininfarina designed it, then Hydra actually designed and built it inside and out, and AC Future does what exactly? Sells it? I find the stationary version kind of interesting as kind of a guest house or casita type thing.
Mercedes, the emphasis where you mention the trailer doesn’t need a driving cabin is probably meant to refer to their other offering and say “unlike the Ai-THd” and is likely a typo.
Or an AI’s mistake, lol
$98k is cheap for an ADU (accessory dwelling unit). That’s how it would help with CA’s housing crisis – people are building ADUs to rent out, and stationary version would be perfect for that.
Yes, and Tesla was going to release a $30,000 EV.
This is typical tech industry bullshit. Over-promise, under-deliver. See: AI.
If this thing is ever built, expect it to cost 3x as much.
I think the only housing crisis this is supposed to solve is that of highly paid tech workers who would otherwise be sleeping under their desks. That’s all well and good till the company parking lot gets crammed with these things and they all get kicked out and have to compete with the people already parked on the streets.
So when does the Ai-THC version come out?
AI=Artificial Stupidity
No one needs AI in an…RV
So can I use this to LIVE IN AN RV (or van ha ha) DOWN BY THE RIVER?
I’ll take the diesel version for free?
Also, yeah this is so expensive and the whole word salad and random #’s/letters as names (like w/ a lot of these new companies) is silly at this point.
Thanks for checking these out though! It’s always interesting learning about RV’s…especially the classic ones that you’ve written about
Also, yeah these are totally goofy looking
“Let’s solve the housing crisis with expanding $200,000 RVs and $100,000 mobile homes! And AI!”
That kind of insufferable ignorance and stupidity makes certain faces eminently punchable.
And folks who invest their money in this hyperbolic BS should just throw their money out the windows.
It’s not even a functional RV – what’s the point of a slide when there’s nothing in it?
The point? The point is to grab as much of that sweet, sweet venture capital money as possible before the rug gets pulled out. Add Ai to the name? Sure, why the fuck not. There will be zero of these things built anyway.
Mercedes, I think that AC Future looked at the mobile home and said if we could make the Ai-TH be as close as possible to the space of a modular home with the upscale looks to be able to be considered as an Accessory Dwelling Unit versus a standard mobile home we could sell a lot of these units.
I have done plenty of claims in mobile homes and modulars. I have found that the mobile homes having the issues of being a single living room/kitchen, a tiny hallway with a bare minimum sized bathroom, bedroom that has to fit in the space of the width of the mobile home. If this could expand out on a well built design with the better windows and interior space, this could be a really nice way to upgrade affordable housing.
There’s lots of prefab ADUs that already meet that standard that don’t involve “AI”, Pininfarina or problematic slides.
(AI + Physical Product) – Data/Info = Bullshit. This is just “Smart” 2.0.
Only way this would work is if they employed an AI Lawyer that would tell NIMBY assholes And Government Regulators to go pound sand and counter-sue. And that ain’t gonna happen.
I don’t think these would be used by owner-occupiers. Instead, they would be purchased or leased by employers or their contracted leasing and management firms. The off-grid models will never go into the woods, but will quickly and inexpensively repurpose parking lots at the sites of now-obsolete retail – dead malls and the like – for housing close to or even in redundant parking lots of comparatively inexpensive suburban office space.. This would shorten commutes, reduce or eliminate child care conflicts (nobody’s going to want to raise a family in one), and provide employers with a labor force literally at their doorsteps
Of course, occupancy would be tied to employment. This would give employers an additional carrot-and-stick for worker engagement – an “Employee of the Month” gets to spend the next month in an upgraded unit, while someone on a performance improvement plan might have to step down to a drafty. bug-infested unit with intermittent electrical and HVAC issues until their productivity perks back up. First-line supervisors would live amongst their workers in a better unit with more space around it to show them what hard work can get them and monitor them (with the help of AI, of course) to make sure they adhere to company standards on and off the nominal “clock.”
Right-sizing workforces would be easy with wheeled trailers that can be added and removed with ease, and legislative carve-outs would certainly be made to exempt the unit’s imputed rental value from Social Security taxes (at least on the employer’s end) and pesky judicial oversight of eviction processes, as “home” would be something to grant and revoke like an access badge and network login.
With workers so close to their workplaces, they would have no need for either private or public transportation, vastly improving facility LEED scores. To take care of their “workplace families”, employers could even set up on-site stores that for the sake of efficiency would accept the company cryptocurrency with which workers would be paid. Group calisthenics would start every day and motivational slogans and posters would uplift the entire community.
It’s exciting! When do we start?
Elon, is that you?
Sounds like communist China. Great idea!
It’d be easier and more space efficient to simply repurpose that dead mall into multi level corporate housing.
I’m really not understanding what the purpose of AI is in this. And the one without wheels might as well just be a single-wide. This honestly just feels like a way to fleece investors. Not that that ever happens.
The purpose is that some people have not yet figured out that AI is mostly a marketing buzzword that people who actually get how AI works are no longer impressed by, if they ever were.
It’s kind of like the Nigerian Prince scammers – you make your messaging intentionally stupid to instantly weed out the intelligent people who would waste your time asking questions without giving you money.
Sounds like less of a housing solution for the actual poor, more like a solution for the “Silicon Valley Poor” (make 6 figures but live in a car because they can’t afford a $3500/month apartment and their student loans).
It’s a really neat idea. And as more of a mobile home than a camping rig, I’m willing to forgive the empty space when the slides are extended – add you own furniture or whatever in that space.
I still have a hard time believing this will make it into real production, but if it does it seems like a solid option for retirees who want a Class A to park for 2-3 weeks at a time.
So another case of “Silicon Valley Syndrome” where it’s created by people in Silicon Valley for people in Silicon Valley who don’t understand how the rest of America (or the world) operates? And when it doesn’t do well outside of Silicon Valley they have no idea why because they live their entire lives in that bubble?
The modern equivalent to the “Grosse Pointe Myopians” Brock Yates wrote about in the 60s: Grosse Pointe myopians – Indie Auto
The housing crisis in California is a land issue. Unless you’re going to stack these (think “Ready Player One”), this really isn’t going to help. Great for places with lots of land, but not for the cities where people actually want to live.
The irony is that if density is the real issue, then traditional apartments (and some looser zoning laws) are going to solve this much more easily. And yes, these would have to be stackable…or parked in some giant dystopian parking garage. The problem then is that one of the biggest benefits to high-density housing is the overall efficiency — shared walls, shared utility lines, economies of scale in having common construction.If we revert to using these singular units to “solve housing,” we’re still going to need to allocate land for some kind of high-end trailer park or something. And it’s only a matter of time before it looks like a regular trailer park. Or The Villages. Or any number of Phoenix suburbs…OTOH, they also have a built-in “labor mobility” solution, as well. Just pack up and leave.
Its not even that. Its a NIMBY issue which turns into a zoning issue. We have an overabundance of corporate office space, lots of retail space and more pointless sports stadiums, golf courses and cemeteries than you can shake a stick at with little left for affordable housing.
Wanted to give it the benefit of the doubt until I read the first line about AI. As said in the article, they mention AI so much, and even changed the model name to include “Ai”, but don’t say what about it involves AI. Hopefully as little as possible for their own sake.
The Motorhome is spacious, but there isn’t much you can fill the space with if you also want to fold it back up for transit.
If the intention is for these to supplement housing, the only benefit the Trailer and Mobile Home seem to have over traditional mobile homes is being marginally more mobile, so if you happen to rent at a trailer park and your rent shoots up (say, from a private equity firm recently taking property ownership) it should cost a bit less to take the whole thing to another park rather than resorting to trying to sell the trailer in-place because the cost of moving a normal trailer being prohibitive.
Someone already perfected the Mobile electric Transformer House, or MeTH. His name was Heisenberg. And he’s the one who knocks.
I think there’s nothing fundamentally wrong with the idea of a huge slide, or making mobile homes/trailers more permanent. I watch plenty of Tiny House Hunters and most of the time, I’m like “Just buy a damned RV!” If this solves the perennial issues of low-quality materials, then it’s a good step. But it’s also gonna need to be maintained using afforable, common materials — something that “real homes” typically have. I also think their marketing could be a little more realistic, with the place staged more like an actual studio apartment, but I realize their target audience right not is probably VC investors and not actual consumers.
The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle means we cannot know the position of the furniture while the slides are in operation but maybe we can get Bryan Cranston to be a spokeman for the “Crystal Ship” edition.
“It’s 110 degrees, did you leave the cat in the trailer again, Schrodinger?!””Uhhhh….maybe?”