The fast-food drive-thru is becoming one of the clearest tests of everyday AI. What once felt like a novelty, or even a mistake, is moving into regular service at major chains as restaurants try to make ordering faster, smoother and less expensive.
The shift is not happening without friction. Early systems misunderstood customers, created viral failures and forced workers to step in. But several chains kept testing, and the technology is now returning with broader rollouts and more cautious expectations.
AI ordering is no longer rare
For many customers, the first sign of voice AI is not a sign at all. It is the voice on the speaker: polite, steady and sometimes noticeably less human than expected.
Kristen Charpentier noticed that difference at a Dairy Queen drive-thru in Cary, North Carolina. The voice was friendly, natural and full of pleases and thank yous, but it sounded just a little too polished. After working a Dairy Queen drive-thru as a teenager, she suspected something was different and later confirmed that AI had taken her order.
That kind of encounter is becoming more common. According to Intouch Insight’s annual Drive Thru Survey, roughly 4 percent of fast-food locations in the US used voice AI technology in the drive-thru lane in 2024. Last year, that figure grew to 5 percent, and early research suggests it has now climbed to 6 percent.
Some chains are moving faster than the industry average. Taco Bell announced in July that it had rolled out AI at 890 drive-thru lanes, more than 10 percent of its US locations. Dairy Queen is implementing the technology in 25 states and plans to eventually bring it to all restaurants. White Castle uses an AI named “Julia” in 12 percent of its drive-thrus, and all new locations now open with Julia taking orders.
The first wave showed the limits
The current expansion follows an uneven start. McDonald’s helped kick off the push in 2019 with the acquisition of AI-drive-thru startup Apprete, which became part of McD Tech Labs. Other chains followed with partnerships: Del Taco and Dairy Queen with Presto, Panda Express and White Castle with SoundHound, and Taco Bell with Nvidia and Omilia.
The promise was simple. AI ordering systems were presented as faster, more accurate and better at upselling than human workers. For fast food, that aligned with a long-running goal: move more customers through the lane while keeping costs down.
But the early experience was messy. Social media clips showed systems making strange mistakes, including McDonald’s AI adding 260 Chicken McNuggets to an order while customers shouted, “Stop! Stop! Stop!” Another TikTok showed AI adding bacon to a McDonald’s ice cream order. Some customers also tried to break the systems, including one person who ordered 18,000 cups of water at Taco Bell.
The problems were not only viral spectacles. Intouch Insight found that AI drive-thrus tended to be less friendly than humans and had lower order accuracy. Accents and dialects could be difficult for automated systems, and many chains handled that by keeping a human employee on a headset to intervene when needed.
Michael Schatzberg, cofounder of Branded Hospitality, described the frustration bluntly: “The restaurants ended up spending more time smoothing over the problem they created.” He added, “Everyone was like, ‘This is the worst. Stop. Get the people back with the headsets.’”
Why chains kept going
Some companies pulled back. Branded Hospitality sold off its early AI-drive-thru investments. In 2024, Del Taco rolled back its AI-drive-thru test. McDonald’s sold McD Tech Labs to IBM and later ended that technology effort.
Other chains did not stop. Dairy Queen, White Castle and Taco Bell continued expanding tests, suggesting that the technology still fit the economics and operating goals of fast food. The appeal was not just novelty. It was the possibility of making the drive-thru faster, more consistent and easier to staff.
White Castle has become one of the clearest examples of that patient approach. Four years into its partnership with SoundHound AI, chief marketing officer Jamie Richardson says AI drive-thrus help employee shifts run more smoothly and speed up service. Intouch Insight finds that, on average, AI drive-thrus beat the industry by 21 seconds.
Richardson also argues that viral failures can give a distorted picture of the technology. White Castle’s approach has been to improve gradually rather than wait for a perfect system. “It wasn't bad at the start,” Richardson says. “It's gotten so much better as time has gone on.”
The broader market is also shifting back toward AI. McDonald’s announced this summer that it was again testing AI-powered ordering, this time with Google at five US locations. That system takes orders in English and Spanish. Branded Hospitality has also partnered with Arc, a voice AI-drive-thru company that works with chains including Jack’s and Pollo Campero.
Not every brand wants automation
The return of AI ordering does not mean every chain sees it as the right fit. Some brands still place human interaction at the center of the drive-thru experience.
Schereé Reed experienced an automated voice at a Wendy’s in Virginia and said his main feeling was “bewildered.” He expected a human to step in, but the system kept its robotic tone. The experience left him thinking about what gets lost when routine service becomes automated.
“I worry a lot about the ways that relying more and more on AI actually removes us from our human connections, like our ability to make community,” Reed tells WIRED.
That concern appears to matter for chains known for service. Chick-fil-A continues to lead Intouch Insight’s friendliness ratings at the drive-thru, despite its long lines, and has not suggested replacing human workers with robots. Dutch Bros and 7Brew have also avoided AI ordering.
Nick Chavez, the chief marketing officer at 7Brew, framed the decision as a brand choice: “Every brand has to make choices that fit its business,” he tells WIRED in an email. “For us, hospitality starts with genuine human connection, and that's something our guests consistently tell us they value.”
The new drive-thru tradeoff
The fast-food industry is now testing a practical question: when does speed matter more than the human voice at the speaker?
For chains expanding AI, the answer may depend on whether the technology can stay mostly invisible. A successful system takes the order, handles changes, offers additions and lets workers focus elsewhere. A weak one turns a simple meal into a customer-service problem.
For customers, the tradeoff is more personal. Some may welcome a quicker lane and consistent ordering. Others, like Reed, still want the small but familiar exchange of saying hi to a human being.
That tension is likely to define the next phase of the AI drive-thru. The technology has moved past the pure experiment stage at some chains, but it still has to prove that convenience does not come at the cost of trust, accuracy and hospitality.