The AI-powered driving service revolution is here again — and this time it’s bilingual.
Just a week after Taco Bell announced AI Deployment Plan In addition to its order pickup service at hundreds of restaurants across the U.S., Wendy’s is rolling out its Spanish AI order pickup service at 28 drive-thru locations in Florida and Ohio.
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These selected locations will be located in areas with a large Spanish speaking population. More 22% of Florida residents speak Spanish At home.
AI isn’t exactly new territory for Wendy’s or other fast food brands. Wendy’s has been slowly rolling out Fresh AIpowered by Google Cloud’s large language model, since late last year. McDonald’s has ended its current AI experiment advocates for workers, but says they still see AI in the chain’s future.
Here’s how the new Wendy’s system works: When customers reach the menu board, an AI voice will greet them and ask them to order. English remains the default language for each customer. To take advantage of the new technology, customers will need to say “Spanish” or “Español” — and the AI will change languages throughout the process.
The idea behind the technology is that when AI handles order taking, restaurant staff are freed up to handle other tasks, Wendy’s notes. This results in more accurate orders — and a faster overall process — since orders aren’t being taken by a multitasking employee.
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Critics argue that AI in driving services could have a number of negative impacts, including job lossIncorrect orders due to local accents or regional dialects, and difficulty with unusual orders.
True, AI can struggle with menu questions or specialized requests, but in my own experience with AI drive-thru ordering at Bojanglesa North Carolina-based chicken and biscuit chain, I found the machine to be significantly faster and more accurate than a human, especially when I asked for product modifications.
Wendy’s says it plans to expand the technology in the future.
