McDonald’s ends AI drive-thru orders — for now

McDonald’s is ending a trial that deployed artificial intelligence to take orders from drive-thru customers, with the technology showing mixed results.

McDonald’s told CBS MoneyWatch it is ending its Automated Order Taker pilot, which used AI in drive-thrus to speed up orders. The fast-food giant, which launched the technology through a partnership with IBM in 2021, is not yet ready to implement voice ordering in its restaurants. Some customers reported that McDonald’s chatbot sometimes got even simple orders wrong.

“The goal of the test was to determine whether an automated voice ordering solution could simplify operations for staff and create a faster, improved experience for our fans,” a McDonald’s spokesperson said in a statement to CBS MoneyWatch, adding that still sees “an opportunity to explore voice ordering solutions more broadly.”

McDonald’s will continue to partner with IBM in other areas.

“As we move forward, our work with IBM has given us confidence that a drive-thru voice ordering solution will be part of the future of our restaurants. 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 about a future voice ordering solution by the end of the year,” McDonald’s said.

Initial stumbles

As of December, McDonald’s had 27,000 drive-thru locations worldwide. It has deployed AI technology in 100 locations across the US. And as with any new technology, there have been setbacks that have amused and sometimes frustrated customers.

For example, in early 2023, TikTok user Ren Adams shared a video documenting your experience using McDonald’s AI ordering system.

“This morning I tried to go to McDonald’s and get my daily dose of caffeine and breakfast. I was going to buy hashish, sweet tea and a Coca-Cola,” she said. “It’s all robots at this McDonald’s. We’re talking to a robot, there’s no one on the loudspeaker.”

The AI ​​cashier mistakenly added nine sweet teas to Adams’ order, she said in her TikTok video, noting that she abandoned the order.

In another video, TikTok user Madilynn Cameron filmed herself in a McDonald’s drive-thru ordering water and vanilla ice cream. The AI ​​bot that took her order inexplicably added two sides of butter and four packets of ketchup to her order, an image of Cameron’s checkout screen shows.

“McDonald’s, I’m done,” Cameron said in the video.

McDonald’s has not commented on these or any other incidents where customers have reported problems using its AI bot.

Other chains adopting AI

Other fast food chains, including chipotle, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut, are testing bots in their kitchens and at cash registers to save labor costs. Chipotle has opened at least 500 digital drive-thrus “Chipotlane” restaurants since 2018. It has also tested AI in kitchens with “Chippy”, a robotic kitchen assistant that can make tortilla chips.

Taco Bell and Pizza Hut, owned by Yum Brands, are also making big bets on AI, their technology chief Joe Park told Wall Street Journal in April. “A lot of this will be automated in the future, where you won’t need to interact directly with the technology,” he told the WSJ. “You can do this through generative AI.”