McDonald’s To Install AI-Powered Menu Boards In Drive-Thru Lanes

Harin - May 02, 2019

The future in which fast food restaurants might predict your order will come soon as McDonald’s has installed AI-powered kiosks in 700 of its restaurants.

Soon, your local fast food chain might know what you want to order even before you reach the drive-thru window. McDonald’s, the fast-food giant, has just installed kiosks equipped with AI in 700 of its restaurants for trialing. So, what is the difference between these new kiosks and the old ones? The new menus can suggest best-selling items depending on the weather, the time of the day, or things that are on trending, for example, it could recommend ice cream for hot summer days.

Moreover, depending on what you currently order, it can also give you suggestions for add-on items. What McDonald’s is planning to do is similar to how Amazon suggests online shoppers with products.

McDonald’s AI-kiosks give us a glimpse of a future where, in food service, AI will be responsible for most of the legwork. But in a future like this, human cashiers might become something that is outdated.

At the beginning of this year, McDonald’s acquired Dynamic Yield, a digital startup from Israel to assist with the company’s in-store marketing and ordering. There is no official information on how much the deal cost but anonymous sources said that it took McDonald’s $300 million.

The kiosks also come with an app, which could help generate a detailed profile of consumers’ eating habits and preferences. Dynamic Yield claims it could offer “highly targeted digital interactions” due to its “platform’s data management capabilities.”

There are already some kiosks installed in some McDonald’s stores but the company’s next step which was mentioned in a press release it to implement the technology to drive-thrus as well as international locations.

In a press release, the company said: