Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) innovation is accelerating in the UK. Popular culture and media influence AAM ‘imaginaries,’ shaping the technologies’ functionality, design, and positioning. This article reports on qualitative research within this ecosystem, detailing how science fiction (SF) is mobilized in this context. Amongst UK AAM innovators, SF future visions prompt technical rather than normative questions. Optimistic SF narratives are deployed to work against dominant media framings, e.g. of military drones. In external communications, innovators use science fiction to ground AAM in a shared cultural reality, whilst debating the benefits of aligning with SF futures. The key role popular culture and media play in how innovators make sense of, and make sensible, AAM technologies is evidenced.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Will Mason‐Wilkes (2026) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: