Five ways Tesla Motors pushes technology change in auto industry

In a report to investors, Barclays analyst Brian Johnson identified five ways Tesla’s Model S luxury sports sedan is transforming automotive design and noted other companies that might be good investments as other car companies catch up.

Reconfigurable clusters: Rather than traditional bezels, gauges and dials, the Model S has a fully reconfigurable instrument cluster, or dashboard screen.

Large center infotainment touchscreens: Tesla's use of a large center infotainment touchscreen has raised the bar for size and functionality of center screens.

“We expect this to be reflected in the broader small/mid car market going forward,” Johnson said.

Embedded telematics: Inclusion in the Model S of an embedded connection link -- as opposed to connectivity via smartphone tethering -- demonstrates that embedded connectivity is the way drivers will communicate with the digital world outside their car.

Assisted driver/autopilot: While the Model S trails the German manufacturers in advanced driver assistance systems for now, Johnson said he expects the Palo Alto automaker to catch up rapidly. He predicted that Tesla will offer some form of autopilot for limited situations in the next three to five years.

Cloud-based software: It is being used by Tesla not only to update software, but in the future will harvest critical "Big Data" on vehicle performance.