Taco Bell’s drive-thru AI might take your next order

Your next Taco Bell drive-thru order might be handled by AI — and AI may have helped you get a Chalupa already. Parent company Yum! Brands has been testing its “Voice AI” technology at more than 100 Taco Bell drive-thru locations in the US, and now Yum! aims to bring the technology to “hundreds” of Taco Bell stores by the end of the year, according to a press release.

Yum! is pitching the AI tech as a way to ease the workloads of its staffers, improve order accuracy, and reduce wait times — all, of course, while “driving profitable growth for Taco Bell, Yum! Brands and their franchisees.” But the fast food industry’s experiments with AI have had mixed results so far: while Wendy’s has been thrilled with its tests, McDonald’s recently pulled back its plans.

There are more than 7,400 Taco Bell stores in the US, so this will still be a small rollout. The original tests at more than 100 stores have been going on for around two years, Bloomberg reports. Yum! is also bringing Voice AI to five KFC restaurants in Australia.