On Jan. 29, The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Mich., unveiled their new Driving America exhibit.

The exhibit  shows how people use cars in their daily lives and how those who have chosen not to drive have gotten around throughout the years. It also includes a portion of the exhibit dedicated to Segways.

The exhibit is 80,000 square feet and includes 60 cases of artifacts, 130 vehicles, and 18, 42-inch hands-on touchscreens.

Throughout the exhibit, there are 18 touchscreen interactive kiosks, which present the collections in a 360-degree view, repair manuals, expert insights and more. Visitors can also travel under the hood of the car and get inside the engine.

“The response to the exhibit has been very positive, the new touchscreens have been especially well received,” said Matt Anderson, curator of transportation at The Henry Ford.

The touchscreens contain additional photos and information on vehicles in the exhibit, as well as games visitors can play to learn more about the vehicles.

Separate from the main exhibit, the event also features “The Automotive Time Line,” which is an elevated road lined with cars that patrons walk down to learn about what cars were like in different decades.

“It gives you the over since of the transformation of the automobile,” Anderson said about “The Automotive Time Line,” his favorite part of the exhibit.

Some of the vehicles the exhibit features is a 1865 Roper, which is is the oldest surviving American car and a 1931 Bugatti Royale of which only six were ever made. SUVs, minivans, family cars and hybrids can also be found in the exhibit.

“As innovative as these hybrids seem there is nothing new about them,” said Anderson.

There were cars that were steam, eclectic and gas powered and there were cars that were hybrids of two different power types.

“What makes this exhibition different from most is that it looks at cars through the eyes of the people who use them, or in some cases, don’t use them,” said Senior curator of transportation at The Henry Ford, Bob Casey.

Housed within the exhibit is a working diner from 1946 called “Lamy’s Diner,” that serves up local Faygo pop as well as “diner classics.”

“The Diner reminds me of places I hung around when I was a teenager. It is very authentic to the times, I love it,“ said Rochester Hills resident Patricia Cosman, who was visiting the exhibit with her husband.

Anderson said for students, the exhibit is a “great opportunity to go through and see how engineering has changed, and see how the style of cars has adopted to both engineering and outside factors of change.”

Along with the new museum exhibit, The Henry Ford is now offering their patrons the chance to share a picture and the story behind their first car. “We want to get people involved. The role for visitors is to share their own story and become part of the exhibit. People often become very attached to their first car, even if it wasn’t the best car,” Anderson said.

Patricia  Mooradian, president of the museum, says the exhibit allows visitors to think differently about what they drive.

“Driving America is more than an exhibition with cars on display,” Mooradian said. “It is really an interactive, state-of-the-art story of us — us as drivers, consumers and enthusiasts, as well as how this innovation has changed almost every aspect of our lives.”

For more information on The Henry Ford’s Drive America exhibit, visit their website www.thehenryford.org/exhibits/drivingamerica

Contact senior reporter Christopher Lauritsen via email at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @ChrisLaurtsen