In 2021, McDonald's became one of the first major fast-food chains to greet customers with an AI chatbot at the drive-thru. It started small, deploying the voice-ordering technology at 10 of its locations in Chicago. McDonald's developed its drive-thru tech after acquiring Apprente, a startup focused on voice-based, conversational technology in 2019, and later worked with IBM to scale automated ordering.

This was only the beginning of the AI drive-thru. Checkers and Rally's teamed up with the AI company Presto to put a chatbot at all corporate-owned drive-thrus in the US in 2022, with the goal of selling more food and drinks to customers and improving order accuracy. The company also said the tech will “free up staff for more people-dependent areas of their business.”

Wendy's and Taco Bell followed suit. In 2023, Wendy's launched its “FreshAI” chatbot at one of its drive-thrus in Columbus, Ohio. The company worked with Google to develop an AI chatbot trained on the franchise's lingo, so it understands that a “milkshake” is a “Frosty” and that a “JBC” is a “junior bacon cheeseburger.” Wendy's began expanding the technology months after its launch, saying that it got orders right without employee intervention 86 percent of the time.

Taco Bell 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. Similar to other fast food chains, Taco Bell pitched the idea as a way to reduce the task load for employees and slash drive-thru wait times. Other chains began trying out the technology as well, including Panera Bread, White Castle, Carl's Jr., Hardee's, Panda Express, and Popeyes.

How it started

The rapid adoption of AI in fast-food drive-thrus stems from a combination of labor shortages, rising operational costs, and customer demand for speed. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the shift toward contactless services, making voice-based ordering systems an attractive alternative to traditional human-staffed lanes. McDonald's early investment in Apprente signaled its commitment to automation, and the chain's partnership with IBM aimed to refine natural language processing for complex orders with modifications. Similarly, Presto's technology promised not only accurate order-taking but also upselling capabilities—suggesting combo meals or larger drinks based on customer responses. These developments mirrored broader trends in the restaurant industry, where automation was seen as a path to consistent service and reduced human error.

How it's going

By now, you might've encountered at least one AI chatbot at one of your local fast-food chains. I spoke to one at Checkers, where a human quickly took over after I was told one of the sandwiches I tried to order was out of stock. Even as companies continue to expand their use of AI drive-thrus, customers aren't exactly fans of it.

A January 2025 survey conducted by YouGov found that 55 percent of Americans would prefer a human to take their order at the drive-thru, compared to 21 percent who had no preference, and 4 percent who would rather use an AI chatbot. That generally lukewarm response may be having an impact on some franchises, as McDonald's ended its partnership with IBM in 2024. One year later, Taco Bell chief digital officer Dane Mathews told The Wall Street Journal that it's reevaluating its deployment of the AI drive-thru after customers expressed their frustrations on social media and trolled the technology by ordering 18,000 water cups. Some people suggest making similarly outrageous orders or speaking in a different language just to bypass the tech and speak to a human worker.

Customer frustration isn't the only snag AI drive-thrus are running into; their credibility is an issue, too. Last year, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Presto — the company that powers 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. In 2023, an SEC filing revealed that human workers in the Philippines stepped in for most orders taken by Presto's AI system. This revelation undermined the promise of full automation, exposing a hidden workforce that actually processed the orders, while the AI merely acted as a front end. The SEC's charges highlighted the gap between marketing claims and actual performance, raising questions about the transparency of AI deployments in customer-facing roles.

Despite these setbacks, the technology continues to evolve. Wendy's improved its order accuracy to 86% without human intervention, but that figure also means nearly one in seven orders still requires a human to step in. Taco Bell's expansion plans slowed, but the chain maintained its commitment to Voice AI, emphasizing that the system would learn from mistakes over time. Meanwhile, Checkers and Rally's reported increased average ticket sizes when the chatbot successfully up-sold items, suggesting that the technology can deliver financial benefits even when imperfect.

What happens next

Fast-food chains are taking AI beyond the drive-thru. Though The Wall Street Journal reports that McDonald's is giving AI-powered drive-thrus a second chance, it's also exploring other ways to utilize the technology, including a system that predicts when its equipment (like its seemingly always out-of-order ice cream machine) is likely to break down. The company is also using AI-powered scales to compare the target weight of an order versus its actual weight, and then alert employees if something is missing, potentially helping workers remember to pack your to-go bag with fries.

Burger King, which is running a limited test of AI drive-thrus, announced in February that it's piloting an AI assistant, called “Patty,” that lives inside employees' headsets. Workers can chat with the AI assistant if they need help preparing food, such as 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 them for friendliness. That means 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, as well as to remove affected items from the digital menu board.

Taco Bell is experimenting with an AI-driven menu board, too. But instead of just using AI to remove items from the menu, it will use the technology to “dynamically change the layout, content, and visuals on a car-by-car basis,” Ranjith Roy, the chief financial officer of Taco Bell parent company Yum!, said during the company's most recent earnings call. Roy doesn't expand on this, but it seems like it could allow Taco Bell to adjust what's on the menu based on the customers pulling up—for instance, promoting high-margin items or suggesting seasonal offers to a car full of teenagers versus a family with young children.

Other uses of AI are picking up traction as well. Both Culver's and Zaxbys are working with a company called Berry AI to put camera timers at the drive-thru to capture data about traffic flow, service execution, and more. Berry AI says its tech shortens drive-thru service time by 20 to 40 percent. It seems like more fast-food chains might start deploying AI tech that's less in-your-face than an AI chatbot at the drive-thru window, whether it's menu changes you don't notice, or a scale that measures your food bag before it's handed to you — at least until these companies perfect their chatbot's tech.

By the way

• It's not just fast-food chains that are looking into ways to use AI. Applebee's and IHOP are exploring a personalization system that could suggest or upsell menu items based on past orders and current promos.
• A survey from the National Restaurant Association found that 26 percent of restaurant operators are now using AI, with most using the tools for marketing and administrative tasks, such as dynamic pricing and inventory management.
• AI-powered shopping carts are becoming a thing, too. Some grocery stores, like Whole Foods, Wegmans, ShopRite, Kroger, and Sprouts, are trying out the tech in some locations, allowing customers to skip checkout lines by automatically scanning items as they're placed in the cart.

• Food & Wine has an interesting dive into the restaurants — like Chipotle — that are putting robots inside their kitchens to prepare ingredients like guacamole and salsa, reducing prep time and waste.
• Verge alum Joanna Stern stress-tested the Hardee's AI drive-thru for this Wall Street Journal report, finding that the system struggled with accents and background noise but succeeded in upselling.
• Rest of World has a fascinating report about how convenience store robots in Japan are actually operated by humans in the Philippines, similar to Presto's hidden human workforce, raising ethical questions about "ghost automation."

The integration of AI in fast food is still in its infancy, but the direction is clear. Whether customers embrace it or not, the technology is already reshaping how we order, how food is prepared, and how restaurants operate behind the scenes. As companies continue to refine their systems, the drive-thru experience of the future may look very different from today—whether that's a seamless chat with a bot, a personalized menu tailored to your car, or a kitchen where robots and humans work side by side.

Source: The Verge News