In brief: McDonald's has announced it is ending its two-year automated order taking (AOT) drive-thru experiment and partnership with IBM. The AI-based ordering tech will disappear from all branches that use it by no later than July 26, 2024, though the system could return at some point.
McDonald's announced a partnership with IBM in 2021 that would help scale its AOT technology using natural language processing from IBM Watson. The system has been tested in more than 100 restaurants since then, but McDonald's has now decided to end the test, according to an email sent to franchises last week, as seen by Restaurant Business.
The drive-thru AI ordering system will be removed from the McDonald's outlets that use it, and the fast-food giant has decided to end its partnership with IBM. While the test is finishing without further expansion of the technology, McDonald's didn't rule out its future return.
"While we have seen success to date, we feel there is an opportunity to explore voice ordering solutions more broadly. After careful consideration, McDonald's has decided to end our current partnership with IBM on AOT and will stop the technology in all test locations by July 26, 2024," said Mason Smoot, McDonald's Chief Restaurant Officer.
The company added that the IBM collaboration has given it confidence that a drive-thru voice ordering solution will be part of its future. The company will continue to evaluate the system and make a decision on what to do by the end of the year.
IBM says it is in talks with other restaurant chains to potentially bring AI-powered voice-ordering to their drive-thru windows, so you might soon have the joy of other places getting your order completely wrong.
McDonald's AI future looks as if it will be powered by Google. In December, McDonald's announced a partnership with the tech giant to apply generative AI solutions across its restaurants. The firm was a bit vague about what that would entail, but given that Wendy's partnered with Google to start trialing artificial intelligence-based drive-thru chatbots last year, it wouldn't be a surprise if the same system found its way into McDonald's drive thru locations eventually.
McDonald's also said its Google partnership will result in advancements for its mobile app, self-service kiosks, business analysis, and more. Nothing about ensuring the ice cream machines aren't always broken, though.
