Cathie Wood makes surprising deeper bet on robotaxis

Cathie Wood has built ARK Invest around the idea that disruptive autonomy changes the game completely.

She’s been bullish on robotaxis for years, arguing that it’s likely to flip auto economics into software-like margins and dominate valuations. That view runs straight through Tesla  (TSLA) stock, which ARK’s latest model pegs at $2,600 by 2029 (bear $2,000, bull $3,100).

Also, Wood estimates that Tesla Robotaxis will contribute 90% of the company’s enterprise value to a multi-trillion-dollar opportunity by 2030.

More importantly, the market still listens.

(ARKK)  is up a superb 46% year-to-date through Sept. 26, blowing past the S&P 500’s 15% gain. Meanwhile, Tesla stock commands a combined portfolio weight in ARK at almost 10%, amounting to $1.50 billion in market value.

Also, this year, Tesla finally started its Robotaxi service in Austin, moving toward open access. The footprint thus far, however, looks more pilot/invite-only than citywide.

Nevertheless, against that backdrop, Wood’s new move into recently public Kodiak AI KDK signals she’s effectively widening the autonomy bet beyond passenger rides into freight.

That’s potentially a tell on where she thinks the next leg of value will emerge.

Cathie Wood’s ARK ETF just took a major swing at the future of autonomous transport.

On Friday, the ARK Autonomous Technology & Robotics ETF ARKQ scooped up 784,610 shares of Kodiak AI, valued at nearly $416,627.

Fund manager buys and sells:

The timing is striking, as Kodiak just began trading on Sept. 25 on the Nasdaq, following a merger with a shell company, Ares Acquisition Corp. II, an affiliate of Ares Management.

Related: Palantir lands surprise AI deal with 109-year-old titan

The SPAC deal valued the startup at $2.5 billion, giving Wood’s fund early exposure to the newest autonomous-vehicle name on the market.

Unlike rivals chasing passenger ride-hailing, Kodiak has focused on freight. Its “Kodiak Driver” stack runs fully driverless long-haul routes, with deployments underway at Atlas Energy’s Permian Basin operations.

Moreover, it pairs that with Roush-built, factory-upfitted trucks, and a remote-assist partnership with Vay in handling complicated low-speed scenarios.

What’s exciting is that Kodiak blends a mix of heavy-duty focus, modular design, and logged real-world miles to become a more advanced contender in autonomous trucking.

Wood’s buying wasn’t limited to autonomous freight.

Her ARK Innovation  (ARKK) ETF and ARK Genomic Revolution ETF collectively scooped up 137,696 shares of Intellia Therapeutics  (NTLA) , worth roughly $2.29 million, underscoring her push into biotech.

But Wood also trimmed her holdings.

ARKQ sold 70,874 shares of Kratos Defense  (KTOS) , a name that’s jumped 227% YTD, worth roughly $6 million. And ARKK continued cutting Roblox  (RBLX) , dropping 27,906 shares valued at $3.68 million, even after a powerful 133% YTD rally.

• ARKQ buys 784,610 Kodiak AI shares worth $416,627, just one day after its Nasdaq debut.

• Kodiak is valued at $2.5 billion through its reverse merger with Ares Acquisition Corp. II.

• Kodiak focuses on autonomous freight, boasting commercial deployments in the Permian Basin.

• ARKK + ARKG scoop up 137,696 Intellia Therapeutics shares valued at $2.29 million.

• ARK trims exposure to Kratos and Roblox, despite healthy year-to-date rallies.

Cathie Wood and ARK Invest run a high-conviction, long-horizon strategy focusing on disruptive innovation across AI, autonomy, genomics, fintech, and crypto. Wood combines that with an open-research process to tap into outsized opportunities.

Also, radical transparency is a big part of why her moves tend to impact markets. ARK publishes daily trade notifications and posts holdings at day-end, allowing its followers to mirror moves in real time.

Secondly, ARK focuses on catalysts (robotaxis, AI chips, gene editing, Bitcoin), so even modest reallocations can effectively swing sentiment.

Related: Goldman Sachs drops shocking call on the economy through 2030

Philosophically, Wood also believes that the macro-environment is turning in innovation’s favor.

“In our view, deflation should be the concern,” she said, with AI-driven productivity pushing prices down, while pushing multiples a lot higher.

• Bitcoin to the moon (by 2030): Base case is at $710,000, bull case $1.5 million per BTC; with some updates, pushing the bull case to $2.4 million. 

• AI software is a $7 trillion market by 2030: According to ARK, software spending could scale dramatically from $1.25 trillion today to $7 trillion by 2030.

• Innovation will dominate stocks: ARK sees innovation-linked market cap skyrocketing to $220 trillion by 2030 and real GDP accelerating to 6% to 8%+.

• SpaceX’s upside: ARK’s open-source model pegs Elon Musk’s SpaceX at $2.5 trillion EV in 2030.

• Genomics scale-up: Precision-therapy names may see their enterprise value grow from $500 billion (2022) to $3 trillion by 2030.

Related: Analyst makes major change to CoreWeave stock price target

This story was originally reported by TheStreet on Sep 29, 2025, where it first appeared in the Investing News, Analysis, and Tips section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.