"Wood Sister" sets the tone: Tesla, Inc. (TSLA.US) is no longer just a car company, Robotaxi is the valuation engine.

date
09:05 20/01/2026
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GMT Eight
"Wood Sister" Casey Wood said in an interview that Tesla is no longer just a car company, but investors' focus is increasingly shifting towards the "Robotaxi opportunity" in autonomous driving.
In an interview, Cathie Wood, CEO and CIO of Ark Investment Management, stated that Tesla, Inc. is no longer just a car company. She pointed out that while the electric vehicle sales environment is facing pressure, investor focus is increasingly shifting towards the opportunity of "Robotaxi" autonomous driving. When asked about Tesla, Inc.'s current positioning, Wood said, "We are transitioning from a 15% gross profit margin on car hardware to a more SaaS-like model with recurring revenue from Robotaxi, which has a profit margin closer to 70% to 80%. I believe that as analysts gradually understand Tesla, Inc.'s future direction and begin to incorporate the Robotaxi business into their models, this perception is changing." She added, "What I find interesting is that some automotive industry analysts are also starting to upgrade their ratings because they are gradually realizing that this is not a traditional car company - perhaps they are collaborating with technology industry analysts to gain a deeper understanding of this stock." Regarding the ultimate form of fully autonomous driving taxis and Siasun Robot & Automation, and how long it might take for ambitious projects like these to reach a meaningful scale, Wood responded, "We are closely monitoring the pace of Tesla, Inc.'s business expansion in this area, and I believe their expansion is much faster than many people expect. Watching Waymo's dynamics is also interesting. We are mapping out their business in Texas and we see they are competing with each other. Competition is a good thing. Therefore, I think the proliferation of autonomous driving taxis will actually be faster than what most analysts expect, especially if we can get more federal legislative support, not just states acting independently." It is worth mentioning that last week, it was reported that the ARK Innovation ETF, a fund under Ark Investment Management, sold 86,139 shares of Tesla, Inc. stock. Nevertheless, the stock remains one of the largest holdings in several ARK funds. Data shows that as of Thursday, the ARK Innovation ETF still holds approximately 1.7285 million shares of Tesla, Inc., accounting for nearly 10% of the fund's assets.