Henry Ford Museum adds Chevy Bolt EV, General Motor's first self-driving test vehicle to exhibit

(FOX 2) - The Henry Ford Musuem is dipping its toes in the world of modernity with its newest addition.

Acquiring the Chevy Bolt EV is the museum's first autonomous vehicle it has added to the floor. Placed next to the 1959 Cadillac El Dorado, it'll be one of the first things observed when entering the Driving America exhibit.

"Self-driving capabilities will fundamentally change our relationship with the automobile," said Patricia Mooradian, president and CEO, The Henry Ford in a press release. "As the home of the historic vehicles that have shaped that relationship today, this acquisition is paramount in how we tell that story in the future."  

The model doesn't adorn the same smooth asethetic that current versions do. Decked out in cameras that provide a continous view of everything around the car, there are lens protruding from the front bumper, back tires and on top of the roof.

The Chevy Bolt EV also represents General Motor's first attempt at self-driving innovation. Unveiled on the streets of San Francisco in 2016, it was constructed with a software startup that equipped the car with 360 degree view of the world. The test car joined about 40 other autonomous vehicles on the roads of San Francisco and Scottsdale, Ariz. 

Autonomous vehicles might feel like a mainstream concept for the second-half of 2010's, but the idea isn't new. It was first weighed in the mid-1920s. GM experimented with self-driving technology when it unveiled its popular "futurama" exhibit during the 1939 New York World's Fair, which envisioned a world of highways that guided cars via radio control.

Now that history can further be cemented.

"Autonomous vehicles will change people's lives forever, just as the automobile itself did more than a hundred years ago," said Mark Reuss, president of General Motors. "The Henry Ford is a treasured institution where past and present innovations are documented and displayed, and GM is proud to provide our autonomous test vehicle to serve as an inspiration to the innovators of tomorrow."

General Motors is now working on the Cruise AV, which they intend on sending to production.