The British Motor Museum is to host an exciting new exhibition exploring the future of the car. “The Car. The Future. Me.” will open on 13 July and run until July 2020.
Over the past 100 years, the motor car has made a big difference to social mobility around the world. Today our streets are more congested than ever and the car makes a significant contribution to climate change. This, coupled with rapidly moving developments in technology, means that the car as we know it is changing; fast.
The exhibition will begin by looking back at the inventors of the first cars – some of which were powered by electricity – and their visions for the future. Visitors will be able to discover what designers in the 20th century thought cars would look like in the 21st century and whether their predictions have come true. The exhibition will explore the latest car technology, looking at how electric cars work and if they are the best solution for today’s roads and travel. Visitors will also discover the world of autonomous vehicles, how much technology is in our cars today and how connected, shared transport systems might be closer to reality than we think.
Included in the exhibition are visions of the future from times past, such as the Triumph XL90 conceived in 1967 as the car of the year 2000, right up to the latest Aurrigo PodZero autonomous pod, which is built in nearby Coventry and is playing a crucial role in the first international trials of driverless vehicles for communities with reduced mobility.
Finally the exhibition will look ahead to what the future could hold, bringing together visions of designers, engineers and the general public. Visitors will then get a chance to use their imagination and design what they see as the car of the future.
Stephen Laing, Curator at the British Motor Museum said “We are delighted to be hosting this thought provoking exhibition which we hope will spark debate amongst our visitors. Will there still be cars in 100 years’ time? How we will drive them? Will we drive at all? As visitors journey through the exhibition they will be asked a series of questions about how they think the car might change in the future and how it may affect them. For example, do they like the idea of being a passenger in a fully automatic pod and would they miss driving? Finally they will be asked to decide how they feel about the future, as it has many unknowns!”
The exhibition is included within the Museum entrance fee. Museum entry is £14.50 for adults, £12.50 for concessions, £9 for children (5-16 years) and under 5s are FREE. There is also the option to Gift Aid or donate your entry fee and get an Annual Pass in return, at no extra cost.
