Some of you may not be able to log into your account, and even if you can you then might not be able to log into the autolog due to needing a "CD Key", and there's a good reason for that alongside a very simple fix.
Your CD key for the game isn't automatically applied to the game, and the box to enter it into in-game is non functional, so treat it as a red herring.

Firstly, you need to find the CD that was given to you with the game. You can find this info by right clicking the game and looking through the "Manage" menu for the "CD Key" option. Copy this and save it for later.


(Ignore my client, I have a mod installed to give me the 2011 steam UI.)

Go to the EA App website, log into your account (if you don't have one, i suggest making a burner account with a throwaway email) and then redeem the key in the settings for the site.
The redeem menu should look like this:


Then after logging in for the first time, reboot the game a few times and you're in.


(This also removes the advertisement for NFS World, so use that as an indicator for if you're on the autolog or not.)

Now that you're connected to the autolog, i might as well mention a couple of quirks with it as well. Firstly, your friends on this game and your steam friends are entirely separate and not even any EA friends that you might have carry over from game to game either. You'll have to add a person when you meet them in game for them to appear on your Autolog.
Online matchmaking for Hot Pursuit is also pretty bad as there's no quick play button and there isn't even a server browser. Instead, you HAVE to sift through 15 different options and hope that SOMEONE has it selected at the same time. I made a discord server to circumvent this issue however. Just mention what round type and vehicle class you are using in the main chat and people will know what game to join.[discord.gg]
So yeah, have fun playing Hot Pursuit online in 2024!