Restaurant operators are investing in voice-ordering AI technology to handle drive-thru orders and reduce labor costs. However, widespread implementation in drive-thru lanes is still years away, especially for restaurants with complex menus. While McDonald’s is ending its partnership with IBM, competitors in QSR such as White Castle, Taco Bell, and Wendy’s are collaborating with other vendors to test the technology. AI drive-thru ordering is on the rise — but it may take years to iron out its flaws on the technology as well as its adoption, such as accuracy with background noise and improved experience for store crew members and customers. https://lnkd.in/etFvebjp Amelia Lucas ‘s report on CNBC
Thanks for sharing
Principal Engineer at RBI
4dFairly misleading and that's to be expected because you're not actually building voice ai. 1. McDonald's didn't end it's partnership with IBM because voice ai doesn't work, they ended it because they have a better solution and they don't want to do it with IBM. 2. Voice AI isn't "years out". There is a provider right now that can be trained and running in a couple weeks and hit 85% order accuracy. That's not a guess. 3. The main impediment is the scaled rollout. There are numerous blocks to running optimal voice ai that have nothing to do with voice ai. Base station hardware is ideally upgraded and it typically costs between 5K - 10K per store. Also these brands have *thousands* of stores which involves work across massive franchisee networks. I could keep going. The tech works and is here. Legacy implementations that folks seize on as an indicator that the tech has "years to go" which implies like 10 or 20 years lol is factually, objectively and scientifically false and not based in evidence. Just an fyi.