In a now-viral interview with Axios, well-known Tesla investor Cathie Wood defended Elon Musk and Full Self Driving (FSD).
Of the community of Tesla investors who are optimistic about the automaker’s future, few match the enthusiasm of Cathie Wood and her ARK investing firm. Wood has often claimed that Tesla will be a vital part of the transportation of the future, even going as far as setting a ~$2,400 price target for the Tesla stock. This morning, Cathie Wood displayed more Tesla optimism as a part of a panel interview with Axios, in which she defended both Elon Musk and FSD Beta.
Wood’s comments to Axios were first broadcast as part of the media company’s “BFD” interviewing panel, where leading journalists from the company probe top investors on their future plans and what trends they are seeing in the market. Clips of the interview subsequently went viral after being published on Twitter, most notably by Sawyer Merrit.
In the first clip, Wood addresses concerns regarding the safety and ethics of the Tesla FSD Beta program.
Cathie is awesome, interviewer less so
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 11, 2023
Concerns regarding the safety of Tesla FSD have existed ever since the program was launched. Still, with the NHTSA recently opening its 40th investigation into the program, those worries have seemingly spiked in recent months. However, as correctly noted by Wood, Tesla concluded in its Investor Day report that FSD was roughly six times safer than the average driver, and even drivers that use Tesla’s less advanced Autopilot system are significantly safer than those that do not.
Besides arguing against claims of lacking safety, Wood notes that Tesla FSD is a primary mover for the automaker’s stock, especially as the company plans to increasingly monetize the program in the coming years. As mentioned above, this added revenue source, a very new concept to the auto industry as a whole, is the jet fuel that Wood believes will propel Tesla’s stock to the astronomical ~$2,400 price target in the near future.
Later in the interview, Wood is asked more generally about Elon Musk’s leadership and if it could help or hinder the pioneering automaker. In short, Wood made her position clear, “[Elon Musk] is our renaissance man…”
Cathie Wood today on @elonmusk:
“I think he’s our renaissance man. He’s the inventor of our age. He’s got an enormous capacity to take on new projects. I do think @Tesla‘s the most important project. We think it’s the most impactful project AI project out there. Many of you… pic.twitter.com/OCQ3Cglw1w
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) May 11, 2023
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