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Taco Bell AI Drive-Thru

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Re: Taco Bell AI Drive-Thru

#181

Post by myvoiceismypass »

bigstrat2003 wrote: post #46
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.

It's way more effort to order with a phone app than to just roll up and tell someone what I want. That's all there is to it, really.

I have a different experience. For places I order from semi-frequently (Taco Bell, Burger King), I have favorited all the things with the customizations I like from previous orders. Then it is a tap or two away from being re-ordered. Super useful too when I am always doing similar but repetitive modifications every time (eg taco bell, beans for meat, fresco style).

Re: Taco Bell AI Drive-Thru

#182

Post by mark_l_watson »

HarHarVeryFunny wrote: post #176
mark_l_watson wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree, that would be just under 6% of all taco bells. The should have done a few in each region.

I can't imagine that people having fun messing with it, putting in ridiculous orders would be region specific. Has anyone here tried it and know how it works ? If I order 6 large pizzas with a topping of rocks, will that come up on the screen ?

I have worked on NLP systems for decades, the usual pattern is converting a request into structured data, and sanity checking the structured extracted data. If you ordered a pizza with rocks on it, the ‘toppings’ filed would be checked against a datastore of available toppings.

Re: Taco Bell AI Drive-Thru

#183

Post by gdbsjjdn »

RDaneel0livaw wrote: post #163
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.

It seems very lonely to live such a hermetic existence.

Re: Taco Bell AI Drive-Thru

#184

Post by gdbsjjdn »

cool_dude85 wrote: post #165
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.

I don't have kids because I value the 5-10 minutes I save when getting out of my car to interact with people face to face in a restaurant.

Re: Taco Bell AI Drive-Thru

#185

Post by dfxm12 »

michaelbuckbee wrote: post #153

This feels like a very knee-jerk reaction to this and not what's actually the case: a new system with weird bugs. It just seems very similar to the sort of articles that came out when online ordering or touchscreen ordering first appeared. Like one of the big knocks on the Taco Bell AI ordering was that it let people ask for a 1000 waters on their order, which yeah is dumb, but it's the kind of thing the humans actua…

I don't want to do your job and test your buggy system. I just want a double stacked taco.

Re: Taco Bell AI Drive-Thru

#186

Post by gdbsjjdn »

dfxm12 wrote: post #178
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…

On a personal level I don't understand why consumers prefer drive-through If you've got kids/dogs in the car with you, it could be a bigger hassle or not possible to go inside. This is probably a very small number of people actually using the drive through though. When I'm on my own, I always find it a better experience to go in myself.

This makes a lot of sense and as you said probably accounts for fewer than 10% of drive through users.

Re: Taco Bell AI Drive-Thru

#187

Post by rightbyte »

EZ-E wrote: post #98
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…

I've always been puzzled that Starbucks drive through is a thing, and even has long queues. It's coffee, do people really drive there just to get a cup? I understand if it's along the highway but otherwise. You pay the premium of the brand without getting to see or enjoy the facilities. Just my feeling as european, maybe just a cultural thing.

Getting a coffee, small snack or other beverage might be the only sane thing to order to a car though.

Re: Taco Bell AI Drive-Thru

#188

Post by jprjr_ »

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…

I think there's a deeply-ingrained sense of being in love with our cars, loving to do things in our cars, etc. We made long commutes via car a thing, and I think a part of that was the drive-through - you could get things quickly on your way to/from work.

There used to be a time where the drive-through was a pretty great deal but - for all the reasons you outlined above it's losing a lot of appeal. I think you pretty much hit the nail on the head - businesses prefer drive-through because it requires less staff, less resources. You also eliminate issues with people loitering in lobbies.

There are places where drive-through/walk-up only may be the only way a restaurant will open due to perceived safety concerns. So that I kind of get but ideally, the municipality would find a way to address the actual safety of the area, or at least the perception. Sometimes areas just look dangerous but are actually fine.

But yeah I think the appeal of drive-through is dying out for a variety of reasons. We no longer see cars as convenient, we desire walkability, we value healthier food over faster food, we'd rather work less and have extra time at home to do things like cook, things like that.

I should point out I'm speaking very broadly, as an American who isn't facing poverty. My view is likely limited and skewed, there are very likely to be scenarios I'm not considering.

Re: Taco Bell AI Drive-Thru

#189

Post by HarHarVeryFunny »

mark_l_watson wrote: post #182
HarHarVeryFunny wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't imagine that people having fun messing with it, putting in ridiculous orders would be region specific. Has anyone here tried it and know how it works ? If I order 6 large pizzas with a topping of rocks, will that come up on the screen ?

I have worked on NLP systems for decades, the usual pattern is converting a request into structured data, and sanity checking the structured extracted data. If you ordered a pizza with rocks on it, the ‘toppings’ filed would be checked against a datastore of available toppings.

Makes sense, but then where would the fun be in putting in ridiculous orders, and I wonder how the Taco Bell system is responding when people order completely off-menu items like pizzas ?
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