<\/p>\n
New AI-powered ordering systems are being used at Taco Bell locations across Erie, handling customer orders and helping restaurants streamline operations.<\/p>\n
According to Jason M. Riggs, Chief Commercial & Product Officer at Audivi AI, the technology is designed to improve accuracy and efficiency while allowing employees to focus on other tasks.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are instances with AI where you do want human judgement involved, but order taking is not one of them. I think we\u2019d all agree, you just want to say what you want and have the thing process it and make sure the order\u2019s accurate,\u201d Riggs said.<\/p>\n
The AI systems are capable of handling the vast majority of customer interactions at the drive-thru speaker without human interference.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know, if you can offload, let\u2019s say, 95-98% of those transactions accurately and have them process correctly and then just worry about making sure you put the right stuff together for the order, then that\u2019s a huge win for the customer, hopefully, and for the owner operator as well,\u201d Riggs said.<\/p>\n
Developers say the technology can also help restaurants improve speed and reduce costs.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery second you save in a drive-thru transaction results in $10,000 in savings annually, so right away, you\u2019ve got some bottom-line benefits for the owner,\u201d Riggs said.<\/p>\n
As AI becomes more common in fast-food operations, some customers have raised concerns about whether the technology could eventually replace human workers. Riggs said that has not been the focus of AI drive-thru systems.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not about displacing current employees. There\u2019s really not a lot of that if you look at sort of how it\u2019s been deployed today,\u201d Riggs said.<\/p>\n
He added that the technology often improves the employee experience by removing one of the more challenging aspects of the job.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey don\u2019t drive away employees or lay off employees because of them. They end up having better employee retention generally because the employees are happier. They don\u2019t have to worry about that really difficult sort of messy work of taking the order,\u201d Riggs said.<\/p>\n
Riggs said hospitality remains a critical part of the restaurant experience and that employees continue to play an important role.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know, when people talk about AI displacing humans, maybe there\u2019s certain companies where that is the case, but I think particularly in drive-thrus, it\u2019s all about hospitality. It\u2019s about how you greet the customer. Are you preparing the order correctly? Are you cooking the food well?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Looking ahead, developers are already exploring new ways AI could personalize the drive-thru experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything from, like, kiosk AI that can profile you know, not necessarily people, but cars when they come through the drive-thru based on whether it\u2019s a minivan or a sports car, and they can dynamically change the menus. That\u2019s the kind of stuff they\u2019re working on,\u201d Riggs said.<\/p>\n
Taco Bell did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n
For now, AI ordering systems continue to expand across the fast-food industry, offering customers a glimpse into what the future of drive-thru dining may look like. Other chains, including McDonald’s and Wendy’s, are also implementing AI-powered ordering technology.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New AI-powered ordering systems are being used at Taco Bell locations across Erie, handling customer orders and helping…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":208254,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[1609,136,138,137,9256,296,139,976],"class_list":["post-208253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-erie","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-erie","tag-erie-headlines","tag-erie-news","tag-fast-food","tag-local","tag-news","tag-restaurant"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=208253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208253\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/208254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}