Currently being tested at a speaker box in a strip-mall parking lot, somewhere off an exit ramp, between a gas station and a check-cashing location, is the most ambitious technology of our time, the one venture capitalists insist will revolutionize every industry on Earth. And things aren’t going very well.
Taco Bell had to learn this lesson the hard way. The company has seen its experiment become one of the more dependable sources of humor on TikTok since implementing voice AI at over 500 drive-throughs. There is the now-famous client who was courteously served after placing an order for eighteen thousand cups of water.
| The AI Drive-Thru Race — Key Information | Details |
|---|---|
| Industry | Quick-service restaurants (QSR), voice AI, generative AI |
| Major Players | McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Taco Bell (Yum Brands) |
| Taco Bell AI Locations | More than 500 drive-throughs across the U.S. |
| Customer Orders Processed by Taco Bell AI | Over two million and counting |
| Taco Bell Tech Partner | Nvidia (announced March 2025) |
| Wendy’s Tech Partner | Google Cloud (system branded as FreshAI) |
| Wendy’s Expansion Goal | Roughly 500 new installations targeted by year-end |
| McDonald’s First Partner | IBM (partnership ended 2024) |
| McDonald’s Current Partner | Google Cloud |
| Key Executive Quoted | Dane Mathews, Chief Digital and Technology Officer, Taco Bell |
| Most Common Customer Complaint | Glitches, repetition loops, wrong items |
| Most Viral Failure | An order accepted for 18,000 cups of water |
When a customer at Taco Bell started rattling off a McDonald’s menu in the middle of their order, the bot was incredibly helpful and recommended dipping sauces. A teen wearing a headset was probably wondering why he had come in for his shift in the first place. Taco Bell’s chief digital and technology officer, Dane Mathews, has been open and honest in a manner that is uncommon for executives in the middle of a rollout. He told The Wall Street Journal, “I’m going to be honest with you, we’re learning a lot.” He acknowledged that he had personally been let down by the bot. He added that it has taken him by surprise. Depending on the time of day and the length of the line behind you, it seems that both statements can be true.
Interestingly, no one is giving up. After a series of viral mishaps last year, including the AI adding nine iced teas to a single order and the AI insisting on Chicken McNuggets that no one requested, McDonald’s quietly ended its IBM partnership.
The company then went on to sign a new contract with Google Cloud. Wendy’s is moving forward with hundreds more installations while collaborating with Google. In March, Taco Bell acquired Nvidia. Three of the biggest names in fast food are engaged in a slow-motion arms race for a technology that isn’t quite ready, according to most honest accounts.
The truly fascinating—and, to be honest, underreported—aspect is the bilingual angle. Spanish or the simple code-switching mix you hear in Texas, California, Florida, and parts of Chicago make up a significant portion of the American drive-thru. This is handled mindlessly by human employees. Until recently, voice AI didn’t. Multilingual fluency is a key component of the newest systems being trained on Google and Nvidia infrastructure. If successful, this would address a serious operational issue that the industry has been silent about for decades. This could be the point at which AI becomes profitable. Teenagers may continue to troll the bots by placing simultaneous orders in three different languages.
Observing this develop gives me the impression that the entire situation is a helpful remedy. The discussion surrounding generative AI was intense, bordering on religious, two years ago. In essence, an executive at one of the biggest fast-food chains on the planet is now suggesting that perhaps people should still take orders during the lunch rush. That isn’t precisely failure. It’s simply the tedious and unglamorous process of determining the true place of a new technology.
It appears that investors still think the long-term math is sound. Even a partial automation win pays for itself across thousands of stores because labor is costly and turnover at QSR locations is brutal. No one has yet figured out whether the customer in the Honda Civic at 11:47 p.m., yelling “no onions” for the third time, agrees.
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