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Taco Bell AI Drive-Thru

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Re: Taco Bell AI Drive-Thru

#161

Post by JKCalhoun »

MangoToupe wrote: post #123
acdha wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They’re usually a lot slower than going inside and people have been cracking jokes about the quality of the speakers since the 80s.

Interesting. I've found going inside to be much slower because the cashiers are so busy with the drive thru. I guess this probably varies from brand to brand, if not store to store.

Definitely "Dunkin" (as it's called now) can fuck right off. (And don't let this old man get started on store employees that allow a caller on the phone to take higher priority than a customer standing in front of them.)

Re: Taco Bell AI Drive-Thru

#162

Post by maxsilver »

mrweasel wrote: post #133
BobbyTables2 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There’s a StarBucks near me that takes about 3-4 minutes per car at the drive thru. Frequently there would be 3-6 cars in line. Yes, people literally wait 15-20 minutes in line before they can even order, much less get their order. Sure, maybe they’re just inefficient and shouldn’t be rewarded. However the people there are indeed working feverishly (and paid poorly). Going inside and ordering isn’t any faster. I’d pu…

Standing in line at McDonalds, to pick up an online order, made me think that maybe the drive thru isn't that great of an idea during rush hours. The staff needs to handle orders in a very specific sequence, to get the cars moving, meaning that they'll need to priorities drive thru orders. Wolt/DoorDash impose the same problem to an extend. I've notice that orders from in restaurant customers is frequently seems to b…

I think the big problem DoorDash and the like have, is they obfuscate the capacity connection between real restaurants.

In the real world, if you drive up to a McDonalds, and there's a line around the building for drive-thru, you can make a decision. (Is it worth the long wait, or not?). In the real world, if you go to a sit-down restaurant, and they're full, they simply turn you away (often with a buzzer or a text callback or whatever, for the 'next available table') and you can make a decision. (is it worth the long wait, or not?).

DoorDash and the like, knows about (but intentionally hides) whether a restaurant can actually handle your incoming order -- they never admit if a restaurant is busy or falling behind, because then a human might use that information to decide not purchase.

So, DoorDash implies to humans that restaurants are open and ready, orders stack up indefinitely far beyond what a real-world restaurant normally would take, and real-world restaurants have to magically 1.5x to 3x their capacity out of thin air.

---

It's not a systems-based issue -- no combination of "moving orders" or "separating orders" or "more apps / AI" could solve it. It's a fundamental capacity issue -- restaurants (especially drive-thru places) don't staff enough people to handle making more than a certain number of orders at a time, and shuffling that capacity from window to counter to drive-thru is just obfuscating that fact.

Re: Taco Bell AI Drive-Thru

#163

Post by RDaneel0livaw »

gdbsjjdn wrote: post #155

I don't understand the appeal of drive throughs?s? In my area there are dozens of people idling for 10-15 minutes in the Starbucks drive through even though we have a municipal "no idling" bylaw to reduce emissions. The line is so long it interferes with traffic on the street. It also seems like sitting in your car inhaling CO from other people's tailpipes for 15 minutes is bad for you? Many of the local fast food pl…

For me the appeal of drive through is 100% solely just that I get to listen to my own podcasts or music. I don’t carry headphones with me outside of the house so if I get to keep my podcasts going - that’s good enough reason for me.

Re: Taco Bell AI Drive-Thru

#164

Post by JKCalhoun »

kadoban wrote: post #90
goalieca wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hasn’t been the case since the 80s. Speaker tech works really well these days.

Speakers work well if they're set up well, maintained well and used correctly. Most drive thrus sound like shit because none of those are true.

Never mind background noise of traffic, etc. Location of the drive-thru, time of day, is important as well.

Re: Taco Bell AI Drive-Thru

#165

Post by cool_dude85 »

gdbsjjdn wrote: post #155

I don't understand the appeal of drive throughs?s? In my area there are dozens of people idling for 10-15 minutes in the Starbucks drive through even though we have a municipal "no idling" bylaw to reduce emissions. The line is so long it interferes with traffic on the street. It also seems like sitting in your car inhaling CO from other people's tailpipes for 15 minutes is bad for you? Many of the local fast food pl…

Do you have kids? They cause about a 5-10 year period where getting into or out of a car is a 10 minute project.

Re: Taco Bell AI Drive-Thru

#166

Post by JKCalhoun »

anywhichway wrote: post #43
jameslk wrote: post #15

When the AI gladly accepts orders that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars or 18,000 cups of water, it’s probably not production ready https://youtube.com/shorts/FDZj6DCWlfc https://www.tiktok.com/@90daygrinder/video/75355084374472983... (another example from a different chain)

I feel like we watched different videos.. Seemed like the AI (or other monitoring system) recognized a problem with the 18000 cups of water order and quickly transitioned to a real human. That instance looked pretty production ready to me.

Regardless, looks like you can't replace everyone with A.I. just yet.

Re: Taco Bell AI Drive-Thru

#167

Post by bell-cot »

boogieknite wrote: post #114
BobbyTables2 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There’s a StarBucks near me that takes about 3-4 minutes per car at the drive thru. Frequently there would be 3-6 cars in line. Yes, people literally wait 15-20 minutes in line before they can even order, much less get their order. Sure, maybe they’re just inefficient and shouldn’t be rewarded. However the people there are indeed working feverishly (and paid poorly). Going inside and ordering isn’t any faster. I’d pu…

if youve ever been inside to listen to these kinds of orders these people WILL find a way to still take 3-4 minutes to order from an AI. if an AI can get those numbers down i want copies of those transcripts so i can learn how to do this myself

Sadly true.

In theory, you could move both the ordering and payment processing into an app, so there's only a pickup window. That'd let the no-attention-span ditherers take their 15 minutes to order without holding anyone else up. Obvious downsides - electric bill at the AI DC, barrier to new/occasional customers (app required), and the C-suite probably loves holding customers mentally "hostage" in the drive-through line.

Re: Taco Bell AI Drive-Thru

#168

Post by IAmBroom »

gdbsjjdn wrote: post #155

I don't understand the appeal of drive throughs?s? In my area there are dozens of people idling for 10-15 minutes in the Starbucks drive through even though we have a municipal "no idling" bylaw to reduce emissions. The line is so long it interferes with traffic on the street. It also seems like sitting in your car inhaling CO from other people's tailpipes for 15 minutes is bad for you? Many of the local fast food pl…

The question mark ("?") is used in English to denote the end of a question.

Re: Taco Bell AI Drive-Thru

#169

Post by JKCalhoun »

akerl_ wrote: post #16

I’m shocked that anybody with a smartphone is still ordering by talking into a voice box, regardless of whether it’s a human or an AI on the other end. There’s a Starbucks near me that is pickup-only. You mobile order, and inside there’s just a rack where the employees set out drinks as they’re made. Walking inside felt like I’d stepped into a glorious alternate reality.

I prefer the days of the automats.

Re: Taco Bell AI Drive-Thru

#170

Post by svieira »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #27
akerl_ wrote: post #16

I’m shocked that anybody with a smartphone is still ordering by talking into a voice box, regardless of whether it’s a human or an AI on the other end. There’s a Starbucks near me that is pickup-only. You mobile order, and inside there’s just a rack where the employees set out drinks as they’re made. Walking inside felt like I’d stepped into a glorious alternate reality.

China has mobile ordering to the next level. Every McDonald’s has a set of two sided lockers, you just scan your order QR code and the locker your order is in opens…no human contact what so ever. In the USA, McDonald’s app is pretty bad compared to Starbucks at least. Nowhere near where it is in China (well, if you do the wechat plugin). I find it isn’t worth the trouble and will just use the kiosk for the rare times…

This was a thing in the US back in the 20s (and a bit before): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automat

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose

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