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Two weeks and 2,000 miles in Ferrari's FF with Evo

EVO's Harry Metcalfe had some questions about the day-to-day livability of the Ferrari FF. When he brought those questions up to Ferrari, they suggested he take one for a couple of weeks and try it out for, as he calls them, "mundane duties." The image above is Metcalfe pointing to the 660-horsepower, all-wheel drive FF parked in one of his fields because, since he lives on a farm, mucking about the green is part of his daily routine. "It could use more ground clearance," he says, "but that's an option on this car."
He does get it on the "tarmac" and he likes it even more there than in the mud. Except for the buttons on the steering wheel; he thinks learning to use them is like learning to play guitar. He has a lot more to say besides that, and you can watch him expound for all of 17 minutes in the video below.

Stellantis wants to outfit cars with AI software to drive revenue

MILAN — Carmaker Stellantis announced a strategy Tuesday to embed AI-enabled software in 34 million vehicles across its 14 brands, hoping the tech upgrade will help it bring in 20 billion euros ($22.6 billion) in annual revenue by 2030. CEO Carlos Tavares heralded the move as part of a strategy that would transform the car company into a “sustainable mobility tech company,” with business growth coming from features and services tied to the internet. That includes using voice commands to activate navigation, make payments and order products online. The company is expanding existing partnerships with BMW on partially automated driving, iPhone manufacturer Foxconn on customized cockpits and Waymo to push their autonomous driving work into light commercial vehicle delivery fleets. StellantisÂ’ embrace of artificial intelligence and expansion of software-enabled vehicles is part of a broad transformation in the auto industry, with a race toward more fully electric and hybrid propulsion systems, more autonomous driving features and increased connectivity in automobiles. Ford and General Motors also are banking on dramatically increased revenue from similar online subscription services. But the automakers face immense competition for monthly consumer spending from movie and music streaming services, news outlets, Amazon Prime and others. Stellantis, which was formed from the combination of PSA Peugeot and FCA Fiat Chrysler, said the software would seamlessly integrate into customers' lives, with the capability of live updates providing upgraded services over time. New products will include the possibility to subscribe to automated driving features, purchase usage-based car insurance or even increase the power of the vehicle with a tune-up to add horsepower. As a baseline, Stellantis generates 400 million euros in revenue on software-generated services installed in 12 million vehicles. To meet the targets, Stellantis will expand its software engineering team of 1,000 to 4,500 in North America, Asia and Europe. More than 1,000 of the expanded team will be retrained in house. Stellantis also announced a new partnership with Foxconn to develop semiconductors to cover 80% of the companyÂ’s needs and simplify the supply chain. The first microchips from the partnership are targeted to be installed in vehicles in 2024.

F1's Sebastian Vettel says mistakes happen but he's not making too many

SPIELBERG, Austria — Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel has hit back at suggestions he has been making too many mistakes to win this year's Formula One championship. The German, a four-time world champion like Lewis Hamilton, was penalized at last weekend's French Grand Prix for colliding with his Mercedes rival's Finnish teammate Valtteri Bottas at the start. Vettel ended up fifth after coming back through the field. That left Vettel 14 points behind Hamilton after eight races, with both title contenders on three wins each and the German having started half the races from pole position. "It's racing. There are some errors you shouldn't do, some errors that happen. It depends on the type of error," Vettel, in good spirits, told reporters ahead of Sunday's Austrian Grand Prix. "I've had a lot of races. It happens, unfortunately, at times. I try to minimize it, but I'm not worried. I don't think there is something fundamentally wrong," he added. "I think we know what we are doing — I hope I know what I'm doing most of the time, so I should be fine." The German lost places in Azerbaijan in April, when he started on pole but finished fourth, after he made a bid for the lead, locked up and ran wide following a safety car re-start. In China, a collision with Red Bull's Max Verstappen dropped him down the order, after the pre-race favorite had initially made a good start from pole. Hamilton has meanwhile gone 33 successive races in the points, and his off days have been less costly than the Ferrari driver's. "It's a long way to go, and it's normal some things happen along the way," said Vettel. "Obviously you are trying to push the limits. It didn't cross my mind when I was in Baku to just stay behind, surrender, and maybe wave another person past, just to collect some points," he added. "That's not how I define racing. I tried to go for the gap, I went for it, it was there, and I didn't make it. It didn't work. Sometimes it works out, and it's great. Sometimes it doesn't." Reporting by Alan Baldwin