The car has permanent cell connection (and WiFi, but thats still lacking software support). Theres even an API [0] you can talk to and have it give you GPS coordinates or turn on the climate control.
It seems really silly to me that all manufacturers don't do this. If amazon can do it on a $189 kindle and google can do it on a $300 laptop, surely ford or Hyundai could do it on a $15000 car. There's no reason a data link should be a premium feature.
The Chevy Volt has a data link and remote apps for IOS and Android. There's a web API that allows sites like Volt Stats to download from thousands of cars. The Chevy is not a $15000 car, but the prices are dropping. The Nissan Leaf can be bought for under $20k after tax rebates in California.
Definitely, but this is not completely new territory. Mercedes can remotely update these days as well. Not sure about the other telematic systems, but it's all definitely going this way.
It's probably got an infinitesimal surface area. At least, it better. More importantly, the servers Tesla uses to do the updating better be equally secure.
Pretty much any car in the same class of the Tesla Model S has remote tracking. It competes against Mercedes, BMW, Audi, etc. All provide similar features.
