IDRV: Taking This Self-Driving And EV ETF For A Spin (NYSEARCA:IDRV)

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The iShares Self-Driving EV and Tech ETF (IDRV), as the self-explanatory name indicates, is an index-benchmarked ETP from BlackRock Fund Advisors that gives investors exposure to “developed and emerging market companies that may benefit from growth and innovation in and around electric vehicles, battery technologies and autonomous driving technologies.”

Introduced on April 16, 2019, IDRV tracks the NYSE FactSet Global Autonomous Driving and Electric Vehicle Index (NYFSAEV)(NYFSAEVT)(NYFSAEVN), so that’s going to be our first port of call.

De-constructing the Underlying Index

By definition, the index is a “rules-based equity benchmark designed to track the performance of globally listed companies involved with Autonomous Driving and Electric Vehicles.”

These rules are applied to six distinct categories of companies that cover a spectrum of EV and self-driving or autonomous vehicle technologies, from battery materials producers to car makers and self-driving software developers and hardware vendors.

These companies can be in any “one of 43 developed or emerging market countries”, but in every single case, must derive more than half their revenues from goods and services related to EVs and autonomous vehicles. Their selection rests on two specific criteria – revenue exposure and their positioning and relationship to each other in the supply chain.

These filtered equities are then ordered by float-adjusting their market caps, and further rules are applied to this ordered list. No single entity can exceed a 4% weighting, and so as to avoid concentration in the technology side over the application side, the index also caps the aggregate weighting of these two (of six) categories at 25%. That leaves more room for upstream companies like Albemarle (ALB), a major lithium producer that would otherwise have no place in IDRV.

I’d describe IDRV as a fund that seeks to maximize exposure to these emergent technologies by identifying the ones most likely to benefit from market growth in the self-driving and EV segments.

IDRV and DRIV – Not Just Anagrams of Each Other!

One important aspect I’d like to introduce here is the surprisingly light overlap between IDRV and another, bigger fund called the Global X Autonomous & Electric Vehicles ETF (DRIV). You’ve probably come across it if you know IDRV, but these aren’t redundant with each other, surprisingly enough.

ETF Research Center

What it implies is up to you to figure out, and I’d encourage you to do that because what looks like a pair of similar ETFs actually isn’t.

When you see this…

ETFRC

…you’ll understand what’s causing this…

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There’s a much lower technology focus with IDRV, so you can’t really call DRIV’s run-up more strategic. Global X just chose to focus more on the consumer and enterprise end of these technologies rather than the support structure and supply chains underlying them that its iShares peer chose to focus on. This isn’t chance. Each of these funds seeks to achieve a set of objectives that guides their price and total return trajectories.

Knowing what we know now, it’s easier to separate the wheat from the chaff – the pros from the cons.

Pros of the iShares Self-Driving EV and Tech ETF

• Exposure to technologies with long-term growth runways
• Vertical exposure across two distinct supply chains – Electric and Autonomous Vehicles
• Lower weighting for the more volatile technology sector
• Better exposure to the Materials sector over DRIV’s
• Lower ER of 0.48% (DRIV – 0.68%)
• 4Y average yield of 2.2% (DRIV – 1.39%)

Cons of IDRV

• Operates in a small niche segment that has further subdivisions
• Low AUM of under $140 million (DRIV – $320 million)
• Weak performance relative to DRIV

I’ll say it again. I don’t hold it against IDRV for underperforming its peer. In fact, I don’t see it as a peer at all. It’s the same space, but we’ve just seen how different they are. It’s also clear that a technology-heavy portfolio can go from outperformer to underperformer in a flash.

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Who is IDRV Right For?

We’ve seen how this ETF is built, how it’s performed in the past and how it’s performing now, so what’s left is to identify the type of investor this fund might appeal to the most.

1. The emerging-technology investor (full-sized position or building up to it)
2. The forward technologies speculator (smaller position)
3. The dividend growth investor
4. The global diversifier
5. The lithium equity investor looking to vertically grow the portfolio

Now let’s look at who this might not be the best option for:

1. The income investor looking to maximize short-term and more frequent distributions
2. The low volatility seeker – 27% annualized for both ETFs
3. The investor looking to generate alpha over the broader cap-weighted equity pool

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This is intended to be an educational primer on IDRV so I’m not making any recommendations, but I think it warrants a brief look at the macro headwinds and tailwinds for these industries.

The Bird’s Eye View

In terms of high-level influencing factors, I’d say oil plays a very important role in the success of EVs.

Omdia via EIA

In the U.S., the expiration of subsidies last year caused a significant dip in BEV sales. This could potentially have a long tail, and with oil and gas production being prioritized over non-conventional energy alternatives, the setup looks far from perfect.

Starkly in contrast, Europe is seeing strong growth in EVs, and December 2025 was a watershed month when BEV sales overtook gas-fueled car sales.

ACEA via CarbonBrief

That’s the EV side of it. On the autonomous driving technology side, we’re still in the early days of this story, but Level 4 autonomy is quickly becoming a reality driven (literally) by the robotaxi industry. Several rollouts of L4 capabilities have been planned for later this year, so it could act as a multi-catalytic boost.

I don’t mean to imply that EV technologies aren’t seeing any movement. On the contrary, leaps in battery materials, power density, and other key developments continue to breach the surface into the public eye. The recent oil crisis could add even more momentum to these efforts, and these alternate avenues promise some really long growth runways.

I’d advise you to conduct an independent due diligence on IDRV if this looks interesting to you. There are tons of moving parts to an investment case for this niche ETF, so tread carefully and size your position in line with the risks involved.

This article answers these three questions about IDRV:

• What type of investor is IDRV most suitable for?
• What unique risks do IDRV investors face?
• Does IDRV have any direct peers?

Editor’s note: This article is intended to provide a general overview of the ETF for educational purposes only and, unlike other articles on Seeking Alpha, does not offer an investment opinion about the ETF.