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The Norb Fiesta is a vehicular platform built by the Norb Motor Company. It was the first vehicle ever designed by the Norb Network for use by sentients. Introduced in 3160 for the 3161 model year as a replacement for human occupants to the Multi-Frame Land Transport Platform, it was designed to use a similar base to the Norb Agricultural Utility Platform to minimize the time from conception to manufacture.
Overview[]
Design[]
Designed to resemble a "car" to minimize feelings of strangeness in human passengers, complete with non-standard features such as wheels and windows, the Norb Fiesta nevertheless had many differences from traditional vehicles. It had four rugged wheels, adequate seating for nine humans within three standard deviations of average size, interior and exterior lighting, climate control, and despite the structural challenges, even incorporated windows. Due to being self-driving, no physical user-interfaces for steering the vehicle were present, allowing for more seating. The seats were designed to spin around to accommodate multiple seating arrangement, and the doors opened upwards to minimize the risk of user injury.
History[]
Shortly after first contact, when the first Verandi citizens were beginning to reside in the Friendship System, the Norb discovered that humans seemed averse to traveling via the windowless animal transportation platforms that the Norb used for all of their frames of similar size. As a result, the Norb Fiesta was born. It proved surprisingly popular with human residents, with only 0.36% of visitors still using the Norb Multi-Frame Land Transport Platform as their land transport of choice after its introduction.
Production halted in 3167 as a result of the Technocrat War stopping all demand for the vehicle. In the aftermath of the war, construction began again on a limited basis, with the vehicle re-purposed to transporting non-cybernetically enchanced individuals, such as humanoids and biologists, who visit the carbon-lifeform-friendly planets of the Network.