In this article we demonstrate how design anthropology theory, methodology and practice can be mobilised to create interventions in how possible human futures with emerging technologies are understood and imagined. Drawing on our research into Human Experience and Expectations of Autonomous Driving (AD) cars we show how: we engaged ethnographic insights to redefine concepts of trust and sharing which contest dominant problem-solution narratives; and we mobilised these insights in applied contexts, through our AD Futures cards which employ ethnographic quotes and examples to disrupt common assumptions, align stakeholders with everyday experience, and pose new questions. © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.