AI chatbots – After early deployments of AI voice ordering at fast-food drive-thrus, companies are expanding—while customers push back and regulators raise credibility concerns. The next wave is less about chatbots and more about AI managing orders, menus, equipment reliabi
A few years ago, stepping into a drive-thru meant repeating the same order out loud. Now, at more than one major chain, the first voice you hear may not be a human at all.
McDonald’s was among the earliest to push this idea into the real world.. In 2021, it deployed voice-ordering technology—an AI chatbot—at drive-thru locations, starting with 10 locations in Chicago.. The company built that drive-thru tech after acquiring Apprente in 2019, and it later worked with IBM to scale automated ordering.
That was only the opening move.. In 2022. Checkers and Rally’s partnered with the AI company Presto to roll out a chatbot at all corporate-owned drive-thrus in the US. aiming to sell more food and drinks while also improving order accuracy.. The company also said the technology would “free up staff for more people-dependent areas of their business.”
Wendy’s and Taco Bell then moved in step.. In 2023, Wendy’s launched its “FreshAI” chatbot at one drive-thru in Columbus, Ohio.. It worked with Google to develop an AI chatbot trained on the franchise’s lingo. including understanding that a “milkshake” is a “Frosty” and that a “JBC” is a “junior bacon cheeseburger.” Wendy’s said it expanded the technology months after the launch. reporting that it got orders right without employee intervention 86 percent of the time.
Taco Bell, for its part, had been testing its Voice AI drive-thru around the same time and later announced plans to expand the technology to hundreds of locations in the US by the end of 2024. Taco Bell framed the change as a way to reduce the task load for employees and slash drive-thru wait times.
As these rollouts spread, not every interaction has landed smoothly.. A writer described speaking to a chatbot at Checkers. only to have a human quickly take over after being told the sandwich being ordered was out of stock.. Even beyond those day-to-day glitches, customers haven’t exactly been enthusiastic.
A January 2025 YouGov survey found that 55 percent of Americans would prefer a human to take their order at the drive-thru. compared with 21 percent who had no preference.. Only 4 percent said they would rather use an AI chatbot.. And the friction appears to be spilling into business decisions.. McDonald’s ended its partnership with IBM in 2024.
A year later. Taco Bell chief digital officer Dane Mathews told The Wall Street Journal that the company is reevaluating its deployment of the AI drive-thru after customers expressed frustration on social media.. The story points to a viral kind of trolling too: customers ordered 18. 000 water cups. a move described as a way to disrupt—or bypass—the technology.
Another tension is credibility, not just customer taste.. Last year. the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Presto—with the company powering the AI drive-thrus at Checkers. Rally’s. Carl’s Jr.. Hardee’s. and now. Dairy Queen—with misleading customers about the capabilities of its technology.. An SEC filing in 2023 also revealed that human workers in the Philippines stepped in for most orders taken by Presto’s AI system.
The pushback and the regulatory actions are landing alongside continued experimentation. and the next wave of deployments is starting to look different.. McDonald’s is giving AI-powered drive-thrus “a second chance. ” while also exploring other uses. including a system that predicts when equipment is likely to break down—like the chain’s often-not-working ice cream machine.. McDonald’s is also using AI-powered scales to compare the target weight of an order versus its actual weight. then alert employees if something is missing. helping workers remember items such as fries.
Burger King is pursuing a separate kind of workflow assistance.. In February, it announced a limited test of AI drive-thrus and piloted an AI assistant named “Patty” inside employees’ headsets.. Workers can chat with Patty if they need help preparing food—for example. if they forget how many strips of bacon to put on a Texas Double Whopper.. At the same time. Patty listens to employees to evaluate friendliness. tracking whether they say “welcome to Burger King. ” “please. ” and “thank you.” Burger King also uses AI to inform managers when a machine is down for maintenance or if an item is out of stock. and to remove affected items from the digital menu board.
Taco Bell is working on a different leap as well: an AI-driven menu board.. Rather than only using AI to remove items. it plans to use the technology to “dynamically change the layout. content. and visuals on a car-by-car basis. ” as Yum!’s chief financial officer Ranjith Roy said during the company’s most recent earnings call.. Roy didn’t expand further. but the idea described is that what’s available on the menu could shift based on what customers are pulling up to request.
Even in places where the AI isn’t a visible “chat” at the window. the goal is often still about speed and precision.. Culver’s and Zaxbys are working with a company called Berry AI on camera timers at the drive-thru to capture data about traffic flow and service execution.. Berry AI says its technology shortens drive-thru service time by 20 to 40 percent.
What’s easy to spot is the pattern: after pilots and rollouts at the ordering window. multiple chains either expand with specific performance claims (like Wendy’s 86 percent accuracy without intervention) or confront limits and credibility issues (like Presto’s SEC charge and the Philippines workforce stepping in). and then move toward other AI uses tied to equipment. scales. menus. and employee workflow—areas where the system can change what happens without necessarily turning every interaction into a conversation.
MISRYOUM Tech News AI drive-thru McDonald’s Checkers Rally’s Presto Wendy’s FreshAI Google Taco Bell Voice AI SEC charge Burger King Patty Berry AI dynamic menu board restaurant AI
So basically your burger starts yelling at you now?
I don’t get why they can’t just have a person take the order like always. The article says “accuracy” but every time I try those voice things it’s like I’m speaking a different language. Then regulators are “raising credibility concerns”?? sounds like they already know it’s sketchy.
Wait, McDonald’s bought a chatbot company? I thought Apprente was like a phone plan or something lol. If it’s managing menus and equipment reliability, then why does my order still come out wrong half the time? And if staff get “freed up,” where’d they go, because the place is always understaffed.
I’m calling it now, the drive-thru AI is gonna mess up my order and then blame me like “system misheard you.” They said it started in Chicago and now it’s everywhere, so it’s just gonna get worse. Also the regulators part… credibility concerns could mean they don’t even know who’s paying for it or who trained it, right? Idk, I just know I’d rather talk to a human even if they’re annoyed.