The AC-series pilot droid represented an earlier version of the pilot droid designed for commuter ships, existing before the more familiar RX-series. On one particular day, a droid of this series, specifically AC-38, had its StarSpeeder commandeered by a rebellious protocol droid, leading to a perilous journey throughout the galaxy. Consequently, the entire AC-series was removed from operation and substituted with RX-series droids, which demonstrated only a marginal improvement in dependability.
The AC-series droids first appeared in Star Tours: The Adventures Continue, a theme park simulator ride owned by Disney. Later, they were incorporated into official canon through the 2018 publication Star Wars: Droidography, authored by Marc Sumerak. Within its pages, the book details an incident involving an AC-38 unit and "a rogue protocol droid," explicitly alluding to the events of The Adventures Continue, wherein C-3PO is compelled to operate the StarSpeeder 1000 when the pilot is unavailable.