Are we controlling the speed or torque when we press the accelerator pedal in an electric car?
I'm confused here, aren't we making the car go faster (more speed)
when we press the pedal?

You press the pedal to go faster - that is your aim and your foot and brain are in control of what you want to happen i.e. go faster. But, you might also press the pedal a bit harder to maintain the same speed when going up a hill. So here, you are definitely not pressing the pedal to go faster. Do you see what I mean?
Either way, the real effect is to put more power into the motor to fight against the force that might be stopping you accelerating or, the force that is causing you to slow down on a hill. More pedal action means more power sent to the motor and, if that results in higher speed then, to reach that higher speed, more torque will be produced to fight against the force that was keeping you at a constant velocity.

But, doesn't high torque not always equal high speed for a motor?

The thing about motors is this: -
$$\text{Shaft power transmitted = } 2\cdot\pi\cdot n\cdot T$$
Where n = revolutions per second and T = torque.
So, some motors have high speed and low torque and, for the same output power, different motors might be the other way around. Feed a motor through a speed reduction gearbox and you'll have a high torque low speed drive output.

Can we go faster or slower by just controlling the torque alone?

Yes we can because the torque is countering the force that holds the motor at constant speed. But, more realistically you are asking the motor to deliver more power.
A final note  - about cruise control - it is a speed control but uses the same mechanism (as the pedal) but within a control loop that seeks to maintain speed. Your brain and foot can do the same of course. You can also use an &quot;overall control system&quot; to make a real system appear to be something that it naturally isn't. For instance, a flyback converter power supply is inherently a power regulator in one mode but, with an outer supervisory control loop that makes it look like a voltage regulator. In other words, it has cruise control.