I saw a lot of data. Including where theTesla has been, where it charged, current location, where it usually parks, when it was driving, the speed of the trips, the navigation requests, history of software updates, and more.

Sharing data is not a bug, it is a feature, and that is what the hack shows.

The amount of data collected and used by the company is just the beginning. We haven't seen fully automated vehicles or the smart cities that could have 5G.

Vehicles, pedestrians, and the city around them will be collected by cars in the future. To function properly, the car will need some of the data that's available.

Tu Le is the Managing Director of Sino Auto Insights. The US, Canada, and Europe may still be the leaders in producing traditional vehicles, but that lead won't last. China has been several steps ahead of its Western competitors in many areas.

Le says that all those seemingly unrelated things are coming together into a smart EV.

Some of Beijing's success wasn't true. Intellectual property from American companies has been accused of being pilfered by Chinese nationals. Beijing's exploding growth in the automotive sector is not the result of espionage.

The ability of China to handle huge amounts of data is well documented. Beijing's facial recognition programs rely on a network of cameras and its online system feeds into its social credit score. It is not the United States that is used to managing terabytes of data on a daily basis.

That data isn't just for China. Beijing has made huge investments to bring its brand of "smart city" to countries across the world. Pony.ai is a Chinese project that is on the road in California.

Taking into account weather, people, and technology is what China has learned. China needs less of that data if it gets better at it. General data from a fleet of Chinese-made cars in North America can reveal individual patterns and habits but also show a complex picture of an entire neighborhood or city. China is already controlling the threat ofTeslas domestically.