In what’s being described as its biggest change ever, Taco Bell is rolling out artificial intelligence-powered drive-thrus to hundreds of US locations by the end of this year. That means consumers will soon be greeted by a computer, rather than a human employee, when they order at a Taco Bell drive-thru.
The burrito chain has been testing AI drive-thru ordering in 100 stores across 13 states, and is slated to expand the test to “hundreds more,” parent company Yum! Brands said in a press release, per Inc. Taco Bell’s ultimate goal is to implement the technology in all of its restaurant locations.
The latest initiative comes in the wake of McDonald’s AI drive-thru hoopla, which went viral across social media. Back in June, the fast-food giant announced it was ending a test run of its AI drive-thru technology partnership with IBM in more than 100 restaurants nationwide following customer complaints. Several TikTok users shared videos showing the faulty system miscalculating orders (in the case of two customers, who were given 260 Chicken McNuggets much to their anguish) and producing unappetizing food combinations, like ice cream with ketchup and butter.
In a statement to CNBC, McDonald’s said it isn’t ruling out potential AI drive-thru plans in the future: “As we move forward, our work with IBM has given us the confidence that a voice ordering solution for drive-thru will be part of our restaurants’ future. We see tremendous opportunity in advancing our restaurant technology and will continue to evaluate long-term, scalable solutions that will help us make an informed decision on a future voice ordering solution by the end of the year.”
Despite McDonald’s struggles, Taco Bell is sure that it won’t run into similar problems with its AI drive-thru. Yum! Brands’ chief innovation officer Lawrence Kim told CNN that the initial roll out has already led to greater ordering accuracy, happier employees and shorter drive-thru wait times.
“We are confident that we’ve approached this the right way,” Kim told the outlet, adding that it’s taken two years of testing, gathering employee and customer feedback and improving the technology to be successful with the new drive-thrus. CNN noted that Yum! Brands didn’t provide any actual data on the said successes. Yum! Brands did say it now earns $30 billion in sales (about 50% of its total revenue) from digital-first ordering channels.
Yum! Brands also refrained from specifying which technology partners the corporation is working with to make its AI drive-thrus a possibility.
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Kim explained that Yum! Brands is strengthening its AI system by training it to understand different pronunciations of certain words and menu items, namely “quesadilla” (“kay-sah-dee-ya” versus “kay-sah-DILL-uh”). He added that Taco Bell employees are still listening on the other end of the drive-thru, so if the AI system struggles to comprehend an order, an employee can jump in and take over.
Kim also addressed the main concern with AI powered technology, saying the ordering system would not replace human jobs. Instead, the AI system will “enhance the team member experience so they can focus on other tasks that are a priority for them,” Kim told CNN.
In addition to Taco Bell, Chipotle, Wingstop and Panera are just a few major chains that have been experimenting with AI in their restaurants nationwide. Del Taco began testing the technology in 2022 but announced in February of this year that it would no longer use voicebots from Presto Automation to take orders in the drive-thru.
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