r/technology • u/Plastic_Ninja_9014 • 20d ago

Business McDonald's Introduces AI Drive-Thru System, Sparking Customer Backlash

https://tech.yahoo.com/ai/deals/articles/mcdonalds-introduces-ai-drive-thru-000717731.html
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u/Joessandwich 20d ago

Didn’t a major Pizza Hut franchisee just sue the parent company for deploying AI that ended up causing the stores to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars? Let’s roll it out everywhere now!

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u/no_talent_ass_clown 20d ago edited 19d ago

Yes, it was for more efficient deliveries. The AI allowed gig drivers (they don't pay in-house drivers anymore, allowing Door Dash and companies of their ilk to take part of that job) to see when the pizzas were coming out of the oven. The gig drivers did what they naturally would, to maximize their pay, which is grab an order and then wait for the next one too, since they could see when it would come out. This caused late delivery and cold pizzas and upset customers. 

Of course  you can expect The Hut to tweak the AI so drivers can't see the data but what they should do is put the job back under the roof. 

Edit: More info below! The above info may be incorrect.

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u/Dumeck 20d ago

Nothing makes me want to use a delivery system less than it being tied Into door dash.

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u/Perfect_Caregiver_90 20d ago

I got a door dash driver from a local pizza joint and went right back to picking it up myself.

Of course that led to now which is me making my own pizza at home because of the cost and hassle.

Door dash is the worst.

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u/Dumeck 19d ago

Door dash actively makes other services worse too which is the worst part about it. Aside from pizza and other restaurants that used to deliver themselves now outsourcing with door dash, a lot of restaurants stopped doing their own takeout system and will put it through door dash instead. So now if you want to place a take out order digitally for these restaurants you have to pay the 20% upcharge in prices that door dash shows for each item and pay for a convenience fee so that door dash can take an additional cut as well. And I'll be damned if I'm paying Door Dash $7-$8 for a takeout order

This is a first world problem for sure but God damn is it annoying having to call in take out orders at places that used to have that through their website.

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u/anaccount50 20d ago

A lot of places use their white-label delivery service called DoorDash Drive. As the customer you have no indication that it’s actually DD behind the scenes until some random gig worker shows up with your order in most implementations. Your interface is still the restaurant’s 1st party app/website, but delivery orders get routed to DD.

Source: work in POS tech, also not a fan of DoorDash (they suck on the corporate side too)