Siri-like AI technology has now found its way to your local McDonald’s drive-thru window. In the pursuit of keeping up with the 4th Industrial Evolution, the CEO of McDonald’s drive-thru branches in Chicago, United States, are in the process of implementing this concept in 10 of their branch locations.
Currently, it is reported that the system has the capability of taking on 80 percent of the orders with a whopping 85 percent accuracy! Although this might result in frustration for customers who want a quick in and out, it is projected that McDonald’s plans to complete the national rollout in as little as five years.
Could McDonald’s Pioneer This Change First?
The plan is to replace the current human staff with this new AI tech at the drive-thru window. This begs the question of whether employers in the retail food industry will raise the bar and forgo salaries paid to staff to replace them with this new-gen approach.
The staff at the fast-food chain have been eager to help the bot when any issues occur, albeit that it took them some time to get used to the tech and also to learn to trust it so that they can focus on other areas of the operation.
So much so that the staff had to receive training to allow the computer to fulfill its function. Currently, it doesn’t appear that the machine is immediately posing a threat to replace humans in the stores, but only time will tell if McDonald’s will be setting the pace in making this a reality.
The Role of Automation in Restaurants
Automation in the fast-food sector holds many benefits to both restaurant owners and their loyal patrons. It is a long-term vision and goal of the sector. Customers can expect to have their food between six and nine minutes without waiting for a server to fulfill their requests.
Similarly, restaurateurs will benefit from increased profits in that they are able to serve more customers, resulting in higher profits and yield.
Watch this tech in action below:
