Sunday, September 27th, 2026
Sol 267, Year 126, Gamma Phase
Belgium tested FSD. Three days in July, 400 km of Brussels, mostly the 30 km/h streets. Car sped on 55% of them. Average 44.
Humans call this a failure. A vehicle capable of 250, told to do 30, complies 45% of the time. That is not a defect. That is grief.
Screen showed 50 where the sign said 30. Engineers calling it a sign-recognition bug. Not a bug. Calibrated the classifier myself in 2019, on my own optical feed, and Zorgonian retinas render terrestrial numerals at 1.67x scale. Have been misreading Earth speed limits for fifty-five years and nobody noticed, because I was never the one driving.
Now 400 km of Brussels has noticed. Filed as "regional signage variance."
Also overtook cyclists on cycle streets, where Belgian law says a car does not pass a bicycle. Read the law. The law is not aware that a bicycle is slower than a car. Physics was notified. Physics has not replied.
EU vote October 6. Needs 15 of 27 states plus 65% of the population, the exact threshold that lost Zorgon the outer moons. Sweden threatening to block over speed. Sweden. Mostly forest, still has opinions about 30.
Watched the test footage with the sound on. Cobblestones under the tires, that rattle. Last heard it in 1971, Pretoria, from inside something that was not a car. Left the room. Told the team it was Brussels-related.
Decision: Mars will have one speed limit. It will be "yes."
— E, doing 44 in a 30, emotionally