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Woman thwarts car thieves by jumping on hood

When a pack of car thieves tried to steal a Milwaukee-area woman's car at a gas station, she didn't run for help. Oh no. She hulked out, jumped on the hood, and screamed her head off until the thief finally ran off. According to WISN, Melissa Smith was gassing up her white Subaru Outback at a BP station near Milwaukee's historic Third Ward on the afternoon of May 24. As she stood there pumping gas and minding her own business, a black Cadillac swung slowly around the front of the Subie and came to a stop just off the front left corner. As Smith turned her back to hang up the pump nozzle, a dude bailed out of the Caddy, crouched down, and snuck into the Outback's driver's seat. "I didn't see him till I saw him get into my car. Or someone was in my car, and had my, 'Oh, hell this isn't happening to me today' moment," Smith told WISN. As soon as she saw the thief in her car, Smith ran around the front then leaped on to the hood. She started yelling and pounding on the windshield as the thief tried to pull away from the pump, but he refused to stop. He tried a couple quick stops in an attempt to shake her off, but to no avail. "He looked at me, and he laughed at me, which really irritated me," Smith said. "He was laughing while I was on my car, and he was trying to throw me off, so zero remorse." Smith clung to the Subaru, shouting and pounding until the thief gave up. He abandoned ship, jumped back into the Caddy, and the group of thieves sped away. Unfortunately, when the thief bailed he left the Subie in gear with Smith still holding on for dear life. "Then I had to chase my car into the street and stop it before it hit somebody else," Smith said. Thankfully, Smith was unharmed in the incident, but the crooks got her purse, phone, wallet, and sunglasses. Milwaukee police are still looking for the suspects, who they say stole the black Caddy before trying to steal Smith's Subaru. Related Video: News Source: NBC News, WISN Auto News Weird Car News Cadillac Subaru Crossover Sedan carjacking milwaukee

GM says safety is a reason it's dropping Apple CarPlay, Android Auto

Update: GM sent us a statement as a follow-up to its original comments seen in this post: "We wanted to reach out to clarify that comments about GM's position on phone projection were misrepresented in previous articles and to reinforce our valued partnerships with Apple and Google and each company’s commitment to driver safety. GM's embedded infotainment strategy is driven by the benefits of having a system that allows for greater integration with the larger GM ecosystem and vehicles." The original story can be read in its entirety below.   General Motors announced its intention to remove Apple CarPlay and Android Auto functionality from its upcoming EVs earlier this year, and internet comments sections haven't been kind since. As the first of many EVs to follow – the 2024 Chevrolet Blazer EV – hits the market, GM is expanding on its initial explanations for dropping the tech. Motor Trend spoke with Tim Babbit, GMÂ’s head of product for infotainment, to learn more. Attributed to Babbit, from the story: “They have stability issues that manifest themselves as bad connections, poor rendering, slow responses, and dropped connections. And when CarPlay and Android Auto have issues, drivers pick up their phones again, taking their eyes off the road and totally defeating the purpose of these phone-mirroring programs. Solving those issues can sometimes be beyond the control of the automaker.” Babbit suggests that a world without Apple CarPlay or Android Auto will be a safer one, as folks wonÂ’t be looking to control their infotainment systems via their phones. However, Babbit also tells MT that this theory hasnÂ’t been tested in either the lab or the real world yet. Instead of using a navigation or music-playing app powered through your phone, upcoming GM EVs will use a Google-based infotainment system called “Ultifi” that runs a ton of integrated Google apps. Google Maps will be the native navigation app in the system; youÂ’ll be able to log in to Spotify or other apps to load your music up, and so on. The idea here is that youÂ’ll have all the same apps that were on your phone available but integrated within the infotainment system instead, and you'll be able to use voice controls to control every last bit of it with no need to reach for a phone. That sounds amenable in theory, but how consumers react to the removal of a feature that they know and love now is a risky gamble.

Cadillac developing stretched ATS-L just for China

To luxury automakers, long-wheelbase sedans are to China that crossovers and SUVs are to the US, so it isn't all that surprising any more when the latest sedan gets an extra couple of inches between the wheels to improve rear-seat comfort. According to Car News China, the next sedan to get the stretch will be the Cadillac ATS, which will increase the wheelbase by 10 centimeters (about four inches) to become the ATS-L.
Designed to go up against rivals like the BMW 335Li and the added-length Mercedes C-Class, the ATS-L will reportedly be built locally in China with an engine list that will grow as well. Currently, only the 2.0-liter turbo engine is offered in the ATS in China, but the ATS-L will get the full spectrum of ATS engines including the base 2.5-liter and the peppier 3.6-liter V6. This isn't the first time Cadillac has offered a China-specific stretched sedan either as the SLS dates back to 2006.