McDonald’s buys speech recognition company for order recording

McDonald’s has acquired speech recognition company Apprente. This is reported by the American fast food giant, which will use the technology for taking orders in the McDrive. It is not yet known when the technology will be rolled out.

Apprente was founded in California in 2017. The company makes AI-powered software for voice recording of complex orders in different languages ​​and accents. It also focused on fast food and drive-in restaurants. In addition to taking orders, the technology can also make changes to orders. For example, the ai understands phrases like, “Can you make that first drink extra big?”

McDonald’s will use this technology in the future as a replacement for human employees in the McDrive. McDonald’s previously installed self-service cash registers in many restaurants. People will therefore come into contact with human employees less and less at the restaurants.

In the future, McDonald’s wants to apply the speech recognition technology in the self-service cash registers of the fast food company. In addition, the fast food chain is working on mobile orders with Apprente’s technology. In partnership with Apprente, McDonald’s is also introducing ‘McD Tech Labs’, a new division of the fast food chain in Silicon Valley.

McDonald’s is also going to use an algorithm that makes menu suggestions at locations in Australia and the United States this year. This algorithm should display the suggestions based on the weather, restaurant crowds and the day of the week. In addition, this technology can make suggestions based on what a user has already ordered. The algorithm was created by Dynamic Yield. McDonald’s acquired this company earlier this year.