DALLAS (1080 KRLD) - Uber has announced plans to explore the viability of self-driving vehicles in Dallas, according to a blog post.

Starting in early November, Uber Advanced Technologies Group will begin manually driving roads in downtown Dallas to collect data about infrastructure, traffic patterns, climate, and other factors unique to driving in the biggest city in North Texas.

It's the first step in confirming Dallas is a good area to develop an autonomous vehicle service. Uber has already started this process in Pittsburgh, San Francisco and Toronto.

Last month Uber announced it would open an office in Deep Ellum that will employ at least 3,000 North Texans.