Parrot rides shotgun in Waymo robotaxi, charms passengers

A tiny yellow-and-green parrot named Mango turned a Waymo ride into the kind of scene that looks staged until the car actually moves. Filmed from the back seat, the clip opened with no human behind the wheel, then showed Mango hooked onto the upper-left side of the steering wheel as the driverless Jaguar I-PACE moved through city streets and into a parking lot.

The sight was absurd on its face and that was the point. As the robotaxi took turns, Mango rotated with the wheel as if he were helping steer, while the passenger narrating from the back seat thanked the bird again and again and called him a legend. When the car stopped, the front-seat passenger reached over, ended the trip on the touchscreen, and lifted Mango off the wheel.

Waymo’s system made the setup possible, but the bird made it memorable. The company describes itself as a fully autonomous ride-hailing service and says it operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in the San Francisco Bay Area, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, Orlando, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio, with Austin and Atlanta available through Uber. Its media materials identify the Jaguar I-PACE as part of the autonomous fleet, and the empty front seat plus passenger screen explain why a parrot on the wheel looks so surreal even in a vehicle built to drive itself.

The clip also landed while Waymo is expanding fast. In May 2025, the company said Waymo One was providing more than 250,000 paid trips each week across Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Austin. In January 2026, Waymo said Miami’s initial public service area covered 60 square miles and nearly 10,000 residents had already signed up. By April 2026, the company said more than 150,000 riders had joined the initial interest list in Miami and Orlando, and in February 2026 it said it was on track to serve over one million rides per week by the end of 2026.

For bird owners, Mango’s perch is funny precisely because it taps a real parrot instinct. Parrots want height, central sightlines and a sense of control over the room, which is why a steering wheel, dashboard or windshield ledge can look irresistible. But that curiosity belongs in a safe setting, not an active car. Veterinary and bird-care guidance says pet birds should travel in a secure carrier, with close supervision and a calm setup to reduce stress, escape risk and distraction.

Mango may have looked like the co-pilot of the future, but the bigger lesson was more familiar: in a moving car, the cutest place for a parrot is usually the one that keeps the bird off the wheel.