Technology

Yum Brands to expand voice AI tech to Taco Bell drive-thru locations

Photo: Taco Bell

July 31, 2024

Yum Brands will add voice AI technology to hundreds of Taco Bell drive-thru locations by the end of 2024, according to the press release.

The company aspires to implement voice AI in drive-thrus at its brands globally in the future.

There are currently more than 100 Taco Bell units using voice AI across 13 states.

"Yum! Brands is integrating digital and technology into all aspects of our business with exciting new capabilities, and AI is a core piece of that strategy," Lawrence Kim, CIO, Yum Brands, said in the press release. "We're expanding and accelerating our AI capabilities like Voice AI to deliver leading-edge technologies to our franchisees and to enhance the consumer and team member experience. With over two years of fine tuning and testing the drive-thru Voice AI technology, we're confident in its effectiveness in optimizing operations and enhancing customer satisfaction."

Yum Brands and Taco Bell have collaborated closely, including incorporating input from Taco Bell franchisees, so that Voice AI benefits both team members and consumers. This technology takes advantage of Taco Bell's strong drive-thru customer experience ecosystem, which is powered by digital menu boards, Yum Brands' propriety Poseidon POS system and the next generation of the Taco Bell Rewards loyalty program which the brand is excited to integrate later this year.

"Innovation is ingrained in our DNA at Taco Bell, and we view Voice AI as a means to improve the team member and consumer experiences," Dane Mathews, chief digital and technology officer, Taco Bell, added in the press release. "Tapping into AI gives us the ability to ease team members' workloads, freeing them to focus on front-of-house hospitality. It also enables us to unlock new and meaningful ways to engage with our customers."

Yum! Brands Inc., based in Louisville, Kentucky, and its subsidiaries franchise or operate a system of over 59,000 restaurants in more than 155 countries and territories under the company's concepts of KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and the Habit Burger Grill.