From Bars to Batteries: 'TRINITY' Shows will.i.am Isn’t Just Designing a Vehicle, He’s Shaping His Future

Last week in Las Vegas, William Adams – better known as will.i.am – unveiled “TRINITY,” a three-wheeled electric vehicle designed to rethink how cities move by blending the agility of a motorcycle with the safety of a car. The vehicle, which looks like a concept from a cyberpunk future as much as a modern urban solution, is the latest in a line of technology stories with the Black Eyes Peas frontman at their center: from a wearables collab with Gucci in 2015 to his more recent futuristic car with Mercedes-Benz, Adams’ interests outside of music are well-documented.

With TRINITY, Adams has pivoted from the passenger seat of automotive culture to the driver’s side of manufacturing. The three-wheeled EV can reach 0-60 mph in just two seconds, and was designed to dismantle the “dangerous” inefficiency of the status quo.

“Think about FedEx, UPS and Amazon that deliver products with one person in the car with small packages,” he tells Hypebeast. “Think about how much congestion that causes for a city. And folks that are on bikes and motorcycles in harm’s way. Them shits is dangerous.”

And he’s already looking ahead. Where some of his previous projects felt like limited creative explorations with luxury houses or tech giants, TRINITY feels more like a personal mission. For him, TRINITY isn’t a one-off.

“You know how you can prompt the LLM and out comes an outcome? You could do the same thing with your life. You could prompt it. But instead of language, it’s people. You prompt your life with people. And those people are the result of how your dreams materialize. And the GPU to prompt that life is called Earth. It’s the same—right?”

Inspired by his 2006 investment in Tesla (“before Tesla launched the Roadster… I’ve seen what $80K can grow into”) and the rapid rise of China’s electric mobility sector, will.i.am is clear that the project isn’t just another gadget – it’s “a true opportunity to change the fabric of our communities,” he says.

His vision is for the company to operate under a business model rooted in cultural stewardship, one he calls a “Voltron movement.” Moving beyond collab culture, he sees a future where TRINITY is franchised to the “champions” of local communities.

“Not collabs,” he clarifies. “Ownership. Collabs was [sic] yesterday.” Anyone he works with will “have a piece,” he tells us. TRINITY in Virginia? Pharrell, obviously. New York? Nas. And London? “Skepta,” he says without hesitation.

“We’re talking about us,” he says. “You know, the most beautiful thing – I get emotional, bro. I got this text the other day,” he continued, pulling his phone out to show us. The text read: “Congratulations on TRINITY brother. Keep going. Don’t look down and don’t look back.” It was from Pharrell. “I’ve looked up to Pharrell my whole career,” will.i.am admits. “That meant everything.”

“It has to be an us move,” he reiterates. “Black and brown, from the core.”

It’s why he chose crowdfunding over traditional VC routes.

“I invested in Tesla in 2006, before they even launched the Roadster. I’ve seen what 80K can grow into.

“How do I fund the first fleet?” he asks rhetorically. “Do I go to VCs? Do I go and sell my Tesla stock to fund it? I could do that. Or do I go to the community and bring the flock? That is the most logical move. It has to be us.”

Built for dense cities, TRINITY sits between categories – it’s fast, compact and designed to reduce the risks that come with two-wheel transport. “Motorcycles are dangerous,” will.i.am believes. “Here is a vehicle that moves like a motorcycle but with the safety of a car.”

What truly separates TRINITY, though, is its intelligence – and who gets to shape it. “Right now, these AIs don’t have a point of view,” he says. “They’re riddled with bias.” His answer is hyper-local. “If the vehicle is made in the community, the vehicle becomes more empathetic for the community because the community forged its perspective.” The same logic extends to policing. “Eventually, police cars will have an agent in them,” he adds. “But who formed its perspective?”

Backed by partners including NVIDIA, Qualcomm and West Coast Customs, TRINITY is as much an education play as it is a mobility one. “We could go to Watts, the South Bronx, Fifth Ward,” he says, adding that he wants to create “micro-sites that build and educate.”

Through it all, culture remains the connective tissue. From producing the campaign music to editing visuals on his phone – “I edited this whole commercial with my thumbs” – will.i.am is keeping authorship close. The campaign name, “Haters Gonna Say It’s Fake,” is intentional. “I’m going to address it head-on,” he says. “You’re fucking with the realness.”

TRINITY’s Kickstarter campaign launches this month and you can sign-up here to stay updated.