Handheld displays are a flexible tool for spatial exploration of information spaces – users can physically navigate through that space to reveal information at specific locations. Having users hold them constantly, however, has several limitations: (1) inaccuracies due to the natural hand tremor; (2) fatigue over time; and (3) exploration limited within arm’s reach. In this paper, we investigate the use of autonomous, self-actuated displays that can freely move and hold their position and orientation in space without the need for users holding them at all times. We illustrate various stages of such a display’s autonomy ranging from manual to fully autonomous, which – depending on the tasks – facilitate the interaction. Further, we discuss possible motion control mechanisms for these displays and present several interaction techniques made possible by such displays. We designed a toolkit – Hover Pad – that enables exploring five degrees of freedom of self-actuated and autonomous displays and the developed control and interaction techniques. We illustrate the utility of our toolkit through five demonstration applications, such as a medical volumetric data explorer.