If you drive a newer car, it’s likely to have at least one built-in camera or sensor that powers important safety systems such as automatic emergency braking (AEB) and blind spot warning (BSW), or that makes driving easier with assistance features such as adaptive cruise control and lane centering. Most of the software and algorithms that control those systems were developed by Mobileye.

But those same cameras and sensors might also be watching for potholes on the road and pedestrians on the sidewalk, then sending that information over a cellular connection you might not know your car had to a company you’ve probably never heard of so that it can create detailed data profiles of every roadway in the world.

Many Americans may be stuck at home right now due to the coronavirus pandemic, but when we all return to our normal driving lives, Mobileye’s technology will come with us. Every time you drive to work, take your kids to school, or go shopping, your car may be fitting another tile into the mosaic of a detailed composite map that can be sold in the growing market for car data.

“This type of data has enormous potential for public good, provided its collection is limited and handled in a way that protects drivers’ privacy,” says David Friedman, vice president of advocacy at Consumer Reports. “The problem is that currently there are no federal laws limiting the collection and use of that data, or even requiring clear disclosure of what is being shared, and with whom. It’s the Wild West out there.”

So far, Mobileye has mapped more than 180 million miles of roads worldwide—including the street in Brooklyn and the off-ramp on the New Jersey Turnpike—and it’s scaling up. As soon as this year, the company plans to use the sensors built into vehicles from BMW to collect data about their immediate surroundings—a process Mobileye calls “harvesting.” Similar sensors are built into vehicles from Ford, Nissan, and Volkswagen, and Mobileye says it will be harvesting data from them in the U.S. by 2021.

And Mobileye isn’t alone. A startup called Carmera that currently collects roadway data from commercial vehicles eventually plans to do the same with the sensors that are already built into production vehicles from Toyota. Tesla says it’s improving its partial autonomy software by using video data it collects from private vehicles, and other companies are close behind.

Sensors are also crucial to the development of the autonomous cars of the future, which will require highly detailed, up-to-the-minute maps to help them “see” the world around them. But these maps may also end up influencing city planning, development, and policing decisions where you live, work, and travel. How that data is used will depend on who gets their hands on it, and could lead to massive profits. Analysts say that data collected from cars could turn into a $750 billion industry over the next decade.