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AI voice ordering returns to US drive-thrus as adoption hits 6%

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AI voice ordering returns to US drive-thrus as adoption hits 6%

Kristen Charpentier first suspected she was talking to a robot at a Dairy Queen drive-thru in Cary, North Carolina, because the voice was, in her words, "too nice." The employee at the window confirmed it: she had just been served by an AI voice-ordering system, one of a fast-growing number in the US. According to Intouch Insight's annual Drive Thru Survey, roughly 4 percent of US fast-food locations used voice AI in the drive-thru lane in 2024, rising to 5 percent and then, per early research, to about 6 percent now.

Several chains are scaling well past that 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, with plans to eventually cover all restaurants. White Castle runs an AI voice agent named "Julia" at 12 percent of its locations, and every new location now opens with Julia taking orders; the chain is four years into its partnership with SoundHound AI. McDonald's, after retreating from the technology once, announced this summer that it is again testing AI-powered ordering, this time with Google, at five US locations, using a system that takes orders in English and Spanish.

The industry's current push follows a much rockier first attempt. McDonald's kicked off the trend in 2019 by acquiring AI-drive-thru startup Apprete and folding it into a division called McD Tech Labs; Del Taco and Dairy Queen partnered with Presto, Panda Express and White Castle with SoundHound, and Taco Bell with Nvidia and Omilia. Then, in 2023, social media turned the technology into a joke: one widely shared TikTok showed a McDonald's AI adding 260 Chicken McNuggets to an order as customers screamed "Stop! Stop! Stop!", and a separate viral clip showed a customer ordering 18,000 cups of water at Taco Bell to try to break its AI. The following year, another TikTok showed the same chain's AI adding bacon to an ice cream order. Intouch Insight's own research found that AI drive-thrus were less friendly than human staff and had lower order accuracy, and struggled with some accents and dialects, which chains typically address by keeping a human employee ready to intervene on the headset. Branded Hospitality cofounder Michael Schatzberg says the backlash forced restaurants to spend more time smoothing over the problems the technology created; his firm sold off its early AI-drive-thru investments. Del Taco rolled back its AI-drive-thru test in 2024, and McDonald's eventually sold McD Tech Labs to IBM before dropping the technology altogether.

Other chains, including Dairy Queen, White Castle and Taco Bell, kept quietly expanding their tests through the backlash. White Castle chief marketing officer Jamie Richardson says AI drive-thrus now smooth out employee shifts and speed up service; Intouch Insight finds that AI drive-thrus beat the industry average by 21 seconds. Richardson says the technology "wasn't bad at the start" and "has gotten so much better as time has gone on," crediting incremental improvement over waiting for a flawless system. Branded Hospitality has since partnered with voice-AI company Arc, which works with chains including Jack's and Pollo Campero.

Not every customer is sold. Schereé Reed, ordering at a Wendy's in Virginia, describes feeling "bewildered" by the robotic voice and worries that leaning on AI erodes human connection. Some chains appear to share that instinct: Chick-fil-A, which tops Intouch Insight's friendliness ratings despite long lines, has not signaled any move toward AI ordering, and fast-growing coffee chains Dutch Bros and 7Brew have likewise avoided it. 7Brew chief marketing officer Nick Chavez says the chain's hospitality is built on "genuine human connection" that customers say they value.

Executives maintain the technology is not costing jobs, and the available figures back that up: White Castle's employment numbers have stayed steady through its AI rollout, and Taco Bell says locations using voice AI have higher employee retention. Where AI clearly does change behavior is upselling: Intouch Insight found that AI drive-thru agents use suggestive selling 71 percent of the time, against a 58 percent industry average for human staff, and reported a 97 percent customer satisfaction rate for the technology overall. Looking ahead, AI could recognize returning customers and personalize offers, illustrated by a hypothetical example of an AI predicting a customer's dessert habits. Richardson stresses, "We never want to seem creepy." At White Castle, customers can ask to speak with a human employee at any time.

Key facts

  • US drive-thru AI voice adoption rose from about 4 percent of fast-food locations in 2024 to 5 percent and then to roughly 6 percent now, per Intouch Insight's Drive Thru Survey.
  • Taco Bell has AI at 890 drive-thru lanes (over 10 percent of its US locations), Dairy Queen is rolling the tech out across 25 states, and White Castle's "Julia" AI runs at 12 percent of its locations.
  • A 2023 backlash, including viral TikToks of a McDonald's AI adding 260 Chicken McNuggets to an order and a customer ordering 18,000 cups of water at Taco Bell, led Del Taco to roll back its AI test and McDonald's to sell McD Tech Labs to IBM and drop the technology.
  • Intouch Insight data shows AI drive-thrus run 21 seconds faster than the industry average, use suggestive selling 71 percent of the time versus a 58 percent human average, and score a 97 percent customer satisfaction rate.
  • Chick-fil-A, Dutch Bros and 7Brew have not adopted AI drive-thru ordering, citing a focus on human connection with customers.

Why it matters

Voice AI at the drive-thru nearly died in 2023 under a wave of viral mockery, but it has quietly become standard operating procedure at several major US chains. The jump from about 4 percent to roughly 6 percent adoption in recent years, alongside Taco Bell's 890 lanes and Dairy Queen's 25-state rollout, marks the technology's shift from a gimmick that generated embarrassing TikToks to infrastructure that chains are betting will cut costs and speed up service in a low-margin, high-volume business.

Who it affects

Drive-thru customers experience the technology directly, from Kristen Charpentier's uncannily polite AI order-taker to Schereé Reed's unease at a Wendy's. Fast-food workers who staff the headsets and intervene when AI fails are affected, as are executives at Taco Bell, Dairy Queen, White Castle, McDonald's and Wendy's, along with AI vendors SoundHound, Presto, Nvidia, Omilia, Google and Arc, and investors like Branded Hospitality that back the underlying technology.

How to use it

For customers, the interaction looks like a voice ordering system that upsells politely and, at chains like White Castle, still lets a customer ask for a human employee at any time. McDonald's newest pilot, run with Google at five US locations, takes orders in both English and Spanish. Chains marketing the technology point to White Castle's four years with SoundHound AI and Taco Bell's 890-lane rollout, announced in July, as evidence it is ready to scale rather than remain a pilot.

How solid is it

The adoption and performance figures come from Intouch Insight's annual Drive Thru Survey, an industry research firm, backed by WIRED's own interviews with executives including White Castle's Jamie Richardson, Intouch Insight's Sarah Beckett, Branded Hospitality's Michael Schatzberg and 7Brew's Nick Chavez, plus customers. The current 6 percent adoption figure is explicitly described as coming from "early research" rather than a finalized survey, and the article does not date the 5 percent figure, Taco Bell's July announcement, or McDonald's "this summer" Google test.

Risks and caveats

Intouch Insight's own research found AI drive-thrus are less friendly than human staff and have lower order accuracy, and they still struggle with some accents and dialects, which is why most chains keep a human on the headset ready to step in. The article gives no cost or savings figures for AI-drive-thru implementation and no data quantifying job losses; it reports only that employment and retention held steady or improved at White Castle and Taco Bell. The idea of AI predicting a customer's dessert habits on a specific day is explicitly a hypothetical illustration of future personalization, not a reported statistic, and White Castle's own marketing chief flags the risk of the technology reading as "creepy."

“They're going to start scaling this massively.”

— Sarah Beckett, vice president of sales and marketing at Intouch Insight