A POPULAR fast food chain and Chick-fil-A rival will begin implementing drive-thru artificial intelligence at hundreds of its locations.
Bojangles promised customers that the new technology would be on par with its human employees.
two
The Southern-style fast food chain with more than 800 locations has teamed up with Hi Auto, a technology company specializing in conversational artificial intelligence for quick-service restaurants.
Bojangles’ will soon begin implementing the company’s drive-thru voice AI at hundreds of its locations, according to a press release issued Tuesday.
The technology, dubbed “Bo-Linda” at Bojangles, has already been deployed in about 50 restaurants.
Hi Auto said its conversational AI tool is accurate 95% of the time, “rivaling the performance of human employees.”
The technology was created to ease the workload of employees, allowing them to “focus on food quality, order accuracy and guest engagement.”
It works as an intermediary between customers and employees, according to the statement.
What is Hi Auto?
Hi Auto is a technology company based in Tel Aviv, Israel, specializing in conversational AI tools for quick-service restaurants.
The company focuses on automating drive-thru orders to improve accuracy and efficiency.
With a team of professors, Google voice experts, and automotive noise reduction veterans, the technology company created Hi Auto, a conversational AI tool that uses natural language processing and speech recognition.
“We have paved the way for restaurants to improve business operations by optimizing order taking, enabling them to accurately capture orders, increase sales, reduce wait times and reduce labor costs by making Hi Auto’s voice technology employee of the month,” the company shared.
Source: Hello, automatic
For example, Bojangles employees can verbally convey important information to consumers through the tool, such as wait times for items.
Bojangles and Hi Auto said this aspect of the technology “has helped transform employees’ perceptions of the technology, as Bo-Linda is seen as a valued member of the team rather than a threat to their jobs.”
Richard Del Valle, chief information officer at Bojangles, said the voice AI tool could reduce the employee turnover rate by decreasing workload and allowing workers to focus more on customer service.
“Our goal at Bojangles is to be an aggressive trailblazer, combining the best technologies with our renowned Southern hospitality to improve every aspect of our business,” Del Valle said in a statement.
WAVE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Many other popular fast food chains have implemented voice AI in their drive-thrus.
For example, Checkers & Rally’s also uses Hi Auto’s voice AI technology and implemented a Spanish version in 2023.
Additionally, Wendy’s franchisees in Columbus, Ohio, teamed up with Google and began testing Wendy’s FreshAI last summer.
“Google Cloud’s generative AI technology creates a huge opportunity for us to deliver a truly differentiated, faster, frictionless experience for our customers, and allows our employees to continue focusing on making great food and building relationships with fans that keep them coming back always,” shared Todd Penegor, president and CEO of Wendy’s.
However, not all implementation of such AI tools has turned out to be positive.
In June, McDonald’s ended the use of IBM’s artificial intelligence tool in its drive-thru lanes.
More than 100 locations have tested the tool since its launch in 2021.
“After careful consideration, McDonald’s has decided to terminate our current partnership with IBM on AOT [automated order taking] and the technology will be turned off in all restaurants currently testing it by July 26, 2024,” said Mason Smoot, director of U.S. restaurants at McDonald’s.
“While there has been success to date, we feel there is an opportunity to explore voice ordering solutions more broadly.”
In related news, a rival to Taco Bell took top spot as the best fast food chain in the US – and fans swore the second choice was a “lie.”
Additionally, a McDonald’s store closed abruptly and customers fear another “boring gray box.”
This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
