Tesla's autonomous-car efforts use big data no other carmaker has

In the automotive industry, Tesla is a leader in many respects--but it's hardly head-and-shoulders above the rest when it comes to self-driving cars. The Silicon Valley automaker is developing fully autonomous cars, but it's part of a crowded field that includes many other automakers and a handful of rich tech companies as well. Still, Tesla's technical approach may give it an advantage over its numerous competitors. DON'T MISS: Let's be clear: Tesla's Autopilot is not a'self-driving car' The company has now collected a huge trove of operating data from customer cars running Tesla's Autopilot driver-assist system. Autopilot does not provide fully autonomous driving at present, but since Tesla began installing the system in its electric cars in late 2015, the system has delivered data on 1.3 billion miles of driving, according to Bloomberg.