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Everything is absurd in Fate of the Furious, including the car hacking

Truly ridiculous and absurd scenes and situations are a staple of the Fast and Furious series, And earlier trailers made it clear that Fate of the Furious wouldn't be any different as soon as the submarine appeared. However, it turns out the craziness has spread to the topic of car hacking. The hacker is Charlize Theron's character, Cipher, and she can apparently control any car in the world, and many of them at once. She uses this to great effect in creating giant rivers of rampaging automobiles through city streets, and waterfalls of cars flying off of parking structures. And if you look closely at these groups of vehicles, it is evident that she can even control older cars that have no automated steering or throttle capabilities whatsoever. We would ask how that works, but we know that's a silly question in the Fast and Furious universe. After all, this is the series that featured Dominic Toretto flying through the air over a freeway to catch Letty Ortiz and land on another car. And they survived. Your logic has no power here! We also noticed that Cipher seems to have a preference to hack vehicles from Fiat Chrysler. In the trailer, multiple Chrysler 300s, a Jeep Cherokee, a Jeep Grand Cherokee, and a Dodge Challenger all get some prominent screen time when they're being hacked. We're not so sure this is good product placement for the brand, particularly considering this is the same company that recalled over a million vehicles to fix a software issue that could lead to hacking. Maybe this is the trade-off for having the Dodge Challenger Demon as a hero car. There's more to this trailer than Chryslers and hacking though. It turns out that Cipher has been following Toretto for a few movies now. Also, characters fly with jet packs, and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's character shoves a torpedo out of the way, on ice, while hanging out of a truck. Check it all out in the video above. Related Video:

EV cost burden pushing automakers to their limits, says Stellantis' CEO Tavares

DETROIT — Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares said external pressure on automakers to quickly shift to electric vehicles potentially threatens jobs and vehicle quality as producers struggle with EVs' higher costs. Governments and investors want car manufacturers to speed up the transition to electric vehicles, but the costs are "beyond the limits" of what the auto industry can sustain, Tavares said in an interview at the Reuters Next conference released Wednesday. "What has been decided is to impose on the automotive industry electrification that brings 50% additional costs against a conventional vehicle," he said. "There is no way we can transfer 50% of additional costs to the final consumer because most parts of the middle class will not be able to pay." Automakers could charge higher prices and sell fewer cars, or accept lower profit margins, Tavares said. Those paths both lead to cutbacks. Union leaders in Europe and North America have warned tens of thousands of jobs could be lost. Automakers need time for testing and ensuring that new technology will work, Tavares said. Pushing to speed that process up "is just going to be counter productive. It will lead to quality problems. It will lead to all sorts of problems," he said. Tavares said Stellantis is aiming to avoid cuts by boosting productivity at a pace far faster than industry norm. "Over the next five years we have to digest 10% productivity a year ... in an industry which is used to delivering 2 to 3% productivity" improvement, he said. "The future will tell us who is going to be able to digest this, and who will fail," Tavares said. "We are putting the industry on the limits." Electric vehicle costs are expected to fall, and analysts project that battery electric vehicles and combustion vehicles could reach cost parity during the second half of this decade. Like other automakers that earn profits from combustion vehicles, Stellantis is under pressure from both establishment automakers such as GM, Ford, VW and Hyundai, as well as start-ups such as Tesla and Rivian. The latter electric vehicle companies are far smaller in terms of vehicle sales and employment. But investors have given Tesla and Rivian higher market valuations than the owner of the highly profitable Jeep and Ram brands. That investor pressure is compounded by government policies aimed at cutting greenhouse gas emissions. The European Union, California and other jurisdictions have set goals to end sales of combustion vehicles by 2035.

California Highway Patrol powers up with Charger Pursuits

Residents of California, you'll want to adjust your rear-view mirrors and remain vigilant for the menacing maw of the Dodge Charger. The California Highway Patrol (CHP) ordered 580 Dodge Charger Pursuit cars to start replacing the organization's oldest vehicles. According to the CHP's director of communications, Fran Clader, these old cars are patrol versions of the Ford Crown Victoria, Ford Explorer and Dodge Charger. The cars will be delivered over the next two years with the majority equipped with Fiat Chrysler's 3.6-liter V6 engine. The unit makes 292 horsepower in the Charger and is found in everything from the Jeep Wrangler to the Chrysler 200. There will be a handful of Chargers with the 5.7-liter V8 found in the Charger R/T, but Dodge and Clader said they will just be used for training. Bick Pratt, head of FCA US government sales and operations, said the order represents a move back toward four-door police cars. "The CHP is ordering our Charger Pursuit vehicle to reintroduce the sedan into their patrol vehicle fleet," Pratt said. "That's important to us because it reflects a shift back to sedans by a progressive agency like the CHP." Chargers may show up in local law enforcement fleets. Pratt said departments will have the opportunity to also order Charger Pursuits through the CHP's contract. So wherever you are in California, if you see that famous crosshair grille in your rear-view mirror, be ready to pull over. Related video: