Uber has started autonomous vehicle testing in Manchester with partners Pony.ai and Verne, extending its push into UK driverless mobility beyond London.
Pony.ai's seventh-generation vehicles are currently mapping the city's streets with a safety driver behind the wheel, and no passengers are being carried at this stage, according to TaxiPoint Taxi News.
Pony.ai, a Chinese autonomous-driving technology company founded in 2016, is supplying the automated driving system.
Meanwhile, Verne will contribute its operational experience running autonomous passenger services in Europe, a model already live in Zagreb, Croatia, where paying customers can book driverless journeys through Uber's app.
The Manchester programme sits alongside Uber's London activity, where supervised autonomous rides with British firm Wayve launched on 3 September, and where Uber has separately said it plans to bring Pony.ai's Gen-7 vehicles.
Transport for Greater Manchester said no applications had been submitted to operate driverless taxis in the city region, noting that new technology must be introduced responsibly with public safety as the priority.
Approval for such services runs through a national pilot process under the Automated Vehicles Act 2024, which opened to applications in May.
Neither the vehicle count, operating boundaries, fares nor a passenger-launch date have been disclosed.
The expansion follows an August agreement between Uber and Pony.ai targeting more than 2,000 robotaxis across five European cities, with Manchester now confirmed as one of the testing locations beyond Zagreb.
