[ad_1]
\n<\/p>\n
<\/a> has ended a two-year test of <\/a>. The company was trialing <\/a> tech at more than 100 of its restaurants but it will remove those systems from all locations by the end of July, meaning that customers will once again be placing orders with a human instead of a computer.<\/p>\n As part of that decision, McDonald\u2019s is ending its automated order taking (AOT) partnership with IBM. However, McDonald\u2019s may be considering other potential partners to work with on future AOT efforts.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile there have been successes to date, we feel there is an opportunity to explore voice ordering solutions more broadly,\u201d Mason Smoot, chief restaurant officer for McDonald\u2019s USA, said in an email to franchisees that was obtained by trade publication <\/em><\/a> (as noted by <\/em><\/a>). Smoot added that the company would look into other options and make \u201can informed decision on a future voice ordering solution by the end of the year,\u201d noting that \u201cIBM has given us confidence that a voice ordering solution for drive-thru will be part of our restaurant\u2019s future.\u201d<\/p>\n McDonald\u2019s told Restaurant Business<\/em> that the goal of the test was to determine whether AOT could speed up service and streamline operations. By automating drive-thru orders, companies are hoping to negate the need for a staff member to take them and either reduce the number of workers needed to operate a restaurant or redeploy resources to other areas of the business.<\/p>\n IBM will continue to power other McDonald\u2019s systems and it\u2019s in talks with other fast-food chains over the use of its AOT tech. The likes of Hardee\u2019s, Carl\u2019s Jr., Krystal, Wendy\u2019s, Dunkin and Taco Johns are already testing or using such technology at their drive-thru locations.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n