Taco Bell Implements Major AI Change at Drive-Thrus. Here’s Why

Taco Bell has hopped on the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution. According to new reports, the fast-food giant will be introducing AI at hundreds of drive-thru locations across the country. Let’s take a look at why they’re doing it and how it will impact customers.

AI at Taco Bell Drive-Thrus: Yum! Brands Is Confident

By the end of the year, Taco Bell will roll out artificial intelligence speech technology in its drive-thrus to hundreds of U.S. stores, Yum! Brands, the company’s parent, announced on Wednesday.

Due to this change, customers can expect to speak with a machine rather than a live person when they drive up to place an order at a Taco Bell.

Yum! Brands’ chief innovation officer, Lawrence Kim, told CNN he is optimistic that the company’s technology, which is currently in operation at 100 Taco Bell drive-thrus in 13 states, won’t encounter any problems. Rather, he asserted, the technology has resulted in increased ordering accuracy, contented staff members, and reduced wait times.

“We are confident that we’ve approached this the right way,” he said. In addition, he noted that in order to get to this stage, two years of testing, staff and customer feedback, and technological advancements were required. Yum! Brands, he stated, currently receives $30 billion in sales — roughly 50% of its total revenue — from digital-first ordering channels, but he did not offer statistics on the gains the company claims to have witnessed as a result of AI ordering.

“Voice AI does not replace any team members,” Kim said to the outlet. Instead, he explained that the technology is designed to “enhance the team member experience so they can focus on other tasks that are a priority for them.”

“I believe the applications for voice AI are boundless,” he continued. “The technology is emerging and evolving so very quickly that we … as an innovation team as well as a technology team are continuously evaluating what could be next.”

Kim added that Taco Bell isn’t the only Yum! Brands restaurant that could be implementing AI. Pizza Hut, KFC, and The Habit Burger Grill may also eventually see these changes implemented. Already, five KFC locations in Australia are “testing Voice AI technology in drive-thrus, which is also being positively received by consumers and restaurant team members,” according to Yum! Brands’ press release.

McDonald’s Tried It, Too

Taco Bell’s announcement comes in the wake of McDonald’s phasing out its own AI experiment, which it discontinued in June.

The AI-powered drive-thru ordering, which occasionally resulted in inaccurate orders at different locations, resulted in the massive fast-food chain notifying franchisees that it would gradually end its present AI cooperation with IBM by the end of July 2024.

McDonald’s intends to get rid of the voice-ordering chatbots it partnered with IBM to install in more than 100 locations in 2021. Statements provided to Restaurant Business indicate that the company tested the chatbots to see if they might improve service speed and optimize workflow.

“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,” McDonald’s said in a statement back in June. “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.”

The company also teased the possibility of bringing back AI in the future. “While there have been successes to date, we feel there is an opportunity to explore voice ordering solutions more broadly,” said Mason Smoot, chief restaurant officer for McDonald’s USA. “After a thoughtful review, McDonald’s has decided to end our current partnership with IBM on AOT and the technology will be shut off in all restaurants currently testing it no later than July 26, 2024.”