"Sister Wood": Tesla is more than 40% safer than other cars and will become the biggest winner in the field of autonomous driving

Ark Investment Management founder Cathy Wood is a big fan of Tesla, and she talked about the potential of self-driving technology for the electric car company in a recent interview. Wood said in an interview on Monday that one-third of her 2027 bear market price target for Tesla of $1,400 is related to electric vehicles and their scale, and two-thirds is related to self-driving and autonomous taxi platforms.

Wood said many countries are interested in attracting Tesla to build factories, citing Türkiye as an example. So everything is going as expected in the EV story, she said.

Wood said Tesla has a front-row seat in the U.S. when it comes to self-driving and robotaxi platforms. The company collects more data on roadways in the United States and around the world than all other companies combined.

"Tesla could be a company that gets people from point A to point B as quickly and safely as possible," Wood said.

Wood also said that in the field of robotaxis, the winner will occupy the largest market.

The well-known stock picker said that Ark's bear case forecast believes that autonomous driving will take a longer time to achieve, while the bull case forecast believes that it will happen soon.

Wood also said risks surrounding Tesla's self-driving technology and robotaxis are decreasing. “Regulators are very data-driven,” she said, adding that over the past five to 10 years, U.S. crash fatalities soared from 30,000 to 45,000, after a period of decline due to car safety measures.

Wood said the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and other traffic authorities want to reverse that trend. She said the increase in accidents was largely due to people texting heavily while driving, leading to a disproportionate number of young people dying in car crashes.

"So the data supports what Tesla is doing," Wood said. She pointed out that 80%-90% of traffic accidents on the road are caused by human error. "If you take humans out of the equation and use artificial intelligence to get people from point A to point B safely and quickly...regulators will be convinced by the data."

She added: "Tesla vehicles using Autopilot and FSD are over 40% safer than other vehicles."