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(June 2024) AI Drive Thru's Failed But The Rollout Continued (europe.pub)
submitted 2 weeks ago* by to c/fuck_ai@lemmy.world
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McDonald's is removing artificial intelligence (AI) powered ordering technology from its drive-through restaurants in the US, after customers shared its comical mishaps online.

A trial of the system, which was developed by IBM and uses voice recognition software to process orders, was announced in 2019.

It has not proved entirely reliable, however, resulting in viral videos of bizarre misinterpreted orders ranging from bacon-topped ice cream to hundreds of dollars' worth of chicken nuggets.

McDonald's told franchisees it would remove the tech from the more than 100 restaurants it has been testing it in by the end of July, as first reported by trade publication Restaurant Business.

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[–] [S] 6 points 2 weeks ago* (7 children)

I mean, ultimately it would be slower than just having a person. Serving less customers per hour is part of it, but also people may go elsewhere if they see a lineup.

Just speaking as someone who worked drive thru at mcdicks for a year. Not saying I endorse it.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

    At this point I'm surprised they have not just replaced the speaker with the screens like they have inside. Maybe they have I've not been through a drive through in a long time.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 weeks ago*

    I don't see this working because of car height and arm length differences. I hate the drive thru at banks since I usually have to open the door and half get out of the car if I forget to slide in as close as I can to the thing.

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  • [–] [S] 1 point 2 weeks ago

    I doubt they will before full automated kiosks become a thing. Even then I could actually see them keeping a human order taker / maintenance person there and having the food made by robots.

    But the main issue is that customers would take too long without someone prompting them. When I worked drive thru I said a lot of "hurry along" things. Like when people named a sandwich I'd interject "Combo?" and "Coke with that?" as well as "Is that everything". Even please drive ahead.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

    Wouldn't need to be if the speech recognition was good. Then the workers are free to do something else. Theoretically of course

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  • [–] [S] 5 points 2 weeks ago (1 child)

    So when I worked drive thru I said a lot of "hurry along" things. Like when people named a sandwich I'd interject "Combo?" and "Coke with that?" as well as "Is that everything". Even please drive ahead.

    So like it's not the voice to text that's the only potential source of delay.

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