8 ms·

I will say, there is a Wendy’s near me that is piloting an AI drive-thru experience, and I prefer it 10-to-1 to the human version. It had a clear voice, it didn

I will say, there is a Wendy’s near me that is piloting an AI drive-thru experience, and I prefer it 10-to-1 to the human version. It had a clear voice, it didn’t disappear randomly, it understood what I meant the first time (even though I was speaking naturally - I didn’t know at first it was AI), and it asked me for feedback (“what sort of sauce?”) in a very understandable way. Drive-thrus are famously a bad experience - I’m happy to see improvement here.

redwall_hp 1y ago
I've had minimal contact with drive-thrus in the past decade, because ordering ahead online is superior in every way. It's also parallelized instead of having a single queue.
- SOLAR_FIELDS 1y ago
  Works when you actually have that option. Usually the only time I ever go to fast food places are late at night when everything else is closed. Most open-late fast food joints in smaller cities and towns will only have the drive through open, not the restaurant area.
  - justinrubek 1y ago
    In no way does this refute the usefulness of ordering online relative to voice. Maybe those food places don't have online ordering, but that isn't a fundamental limitation.
  - red-iron-pine 1y ago
    if you have the computing infrastructure to run AI in the drive through, at night, when everything else is closed, then you probably have the infrastructure to do online orders via an app.
    - SOLAR_FIELDS 1y ago
      Of course you do - and some do (McDonalds, Chick-fil-A). But not all of them.
PapaPalpatine 1y ago
I have never heard someone describe drive-thrus as a “famously bad experience.”
- acdha 1y ago
  They’re usually a lot slower than going inside and people have been cracking jokes about the quality of the speakers since the 80s.
  - PapaPalpatine 1y ago
    Yeah... that's just not the experience with drive-thrus in Central Ohio.
    - micromacrofoot 1y ago
      oh central ohio, well in that case it's definitely everyone else that is wrong
      - PapaPalpatine 1y ago
        Or maybe you and everyone else is of a certain age that y'all need to get your hearing checked more frequently.
        micromacrofoot 1y ago
        right again! logically we all need hearing aids specifically for drive-thrus
        PapaPalpatine 1y ago
        Do I win a prize?!
    - acdha 1y ago
      Maybe they’re less busy there but everywhere I went in California it was faster to park and walk inside if there was anyone in line ahead of you, which was almost always the case. The problem is that you’re limited by the slowest order ahead of you but the same place usually has multiple registers inside and the people who are waiting for pickup don’t block you from ordering. (Head of line blocking in real life) This used to be worse when everyone was paying cash and you’d be stuck behind someone counting out quarters or dropping their change.
eco 1y ago
I've had two interactions with Wendy's AI drive-through, and the first time I was pleasantly surprised, but the second time it would not stop suggesting add-ons after every single thing I said. It was comically pushy. A human would have pretty quickly picked up on my increasingly exasperated "no, thanks" and stopped doing it, but the AI was completely blind to my growing frustration, following the upsell directive without any thought. It reminded me of when I worked in retail as a kid and we were required to ask if they needed any batteries at checkout, even if they were just buying batteries. I learned pretty quickly to ignore that mandate in appropriate situations (unless the manager was around). Makes me wonder how often employees are smart enough to ignore hard rules mandated by far-off management that would hurt the company's reputation if they were actually followed rigidly. AI isn't going to have that kind of sensitivity to subtle clues in human interaction for some time, I suspect.
- blibble 1y ago
  seems they took Dude, Where's My Car as an inspiration? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkdyU_eUm1U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkdyU_eUm1U
  - wpasc 1y ago
    aaaand then?
    - ethbr1 1y ago
      No and then.
- deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
- Jordan-117 1y ago
  That was my first thought as well. Every customer-facing job has ridiculous requirements from corporate that any employee with half a brain knows to skip. I wonder how much more exasperating customer service experiences will get with the proliferation of language models that don't know how to soft-pedal this stuff.
ssharp 1y ago
I've used the Tacbo Bel AI drive-thru and came away with the same thought. I kind of groaned at first but it was very accurate, even when making adjustments.
- dr-detroit 1y ago
  [dead]

redwall_hp 1y ago

I've had minimal contact with drive-thrus in the past decade, because ordering ahead online is superior in every way. It's also parallelized instead of having a single queue.

SOLAR_FIELDS 1y ago
Works when you actually have that option. Usually the only time I ever go to fast food places are late at night when everything else is closed. Most open-late fast food joints in smaller cities and towns will only have the drive through open, not the restaurant area.
- justinrubek 1y ago
  In no way does this refute the usefulness of ordering online relative to voice. Maybe those food places don't have online ordering, but that isn't a fundamental limitation.
- red-iron-pine 1y ago
  if you have the computing infrastructure to run AI in the drive through, at night, when everything else is closed, then you probably have the infrastructure to do online orders via an app.
  - SOLAR_FIELDS 1y ago
    Of course you do - and some do (McDonalds, Chick-fil-A). But not all of them.

PapaPalpatine 1y ago

I have never heard someone describe drive-thrus as a “famously bad experience.”

acdha 1y ago
They’re usually a lot slower than going inside and people have been cracking jokes about the quality of the speakers since the 80s.
- PapaPalpatine 1y ago
  Yeah... that's just not the experience with drive-thrus in Central Ohio.
  - micromacrofoot 1y ago
    oh central ohio, well in that case it's definitely everyone else that is wrong
    - PapaPalpatine 1y ago
      Or maybe you and everyone else is of a certain age that y'all need to get your hearing checked more frequently.
      - micromacrofoot 1y ago
        right again! logically we all need hearing aids specifically for drive-thrus
        PapaPalpatine 1y ago
        Do I win a prize?!
  - acdha 1y ago
    Maybe they’re less busy there but everywhere I went in California it was faster to park and walk inside if there was anyone in line ahead of you, which was almost always the case. The problem is that you’re limited by the slowest order ahead of you but the same place usually has multiple registers inside and the people who are waiting for pickup don’t block you from ordering. (Head of line blocking in real life) This used to be worse when everyone was paying cash and you’d be stuck behind someone counting out quarters or dropping their change.

eco 1y ago

I've had two interactions with Wendy's AI drive-through, and the first time I was pleasantly surprised, but the second time it would not stop suggesting add-ons after every single thing I said. It was comically pushy. A human would have pretty quickly picked up on my increasingly exasperated "no, thanks" and stopped doing it, but the AI was completely blind to my growing frustration, following the upsell directive without any thought. It reminded me of when I worked in retail as a kid and we were required to ask if they needed any batteries at checkout, even if they were just buying batteries. I learned pretty quickly to ignore that mandate in appropriate situations (unless the manager was around). Makes me wonder how often employees are smart enough to ignore hard rules mandated by far-off management that would hurt the company's reputation if they were actually followed rigidly. AI isn't going to have that kind of sensitivity to subtle clues in human interaction for some time, I suspect.

blibble 1y ago
seems they took Dude, Where's My Car as an inspiration? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkdyU_eUm1U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkdyU_eUm1U
- wpasc 1y ago
  aaaand then?
  - ethbr1 1y ago
    No and then.
deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
Jordan-117 1y ago
That was my first thought as well. Every customer-facing job has ridiculous requirements from corporate that any employee with half a brain knows to skip. I wonder how much more exasperating customer service experiences will get with the proliferation of language models that don't know how to soft-pedal this stuff.

ssharp 1y ago

I've used the Tacbo Bel AI drive-thru and came away with the same thought. I kind of groaned at first but it was very accurate, even when making adjustments.

dr-detroit 1y ago
[dead]