McDonald's has ended its two-year trial of drive-through automated order-taking (AOT), developed in partnership with IBM, the Restaurant Business Magazine has reported.

The project, which will not be extended further, was implemented in 100 restaurants but will now be removed.

The decision was communicated to franchisees via an email that Restaurant Business has accessed.

McDonald's stated that the objective of the trial was to assess whether AI could expedite service and streamline operations.

Despite ending this particular test, the American fast-food chain emphasised that it hasn't given up on using AI in drive-throughs. It is actively searching for a new partner to further enhance its AOT capabilities.

McDonald’s US chief restaurant officer Mason Smoot was quoted by the publication as saying: “While there have been successes to date, we feel there is an opportunity to explore voice ordering solutions more broadly.

“After a thoughtful review, McDonald’s has decided to end our current partnership with IBM on AOT and the technology will be shut off in all restaurants currently testing it no later than July 26, 2024.”

Smoot noted that the company will assess plans to make “an informed decision on a future voice ordering solution by the end of the year.”

McDonald's, however, remains optimistic about the future of voice-activated AI in its operations, indicating that the trial's outcomes were promising.

Smoot added: “IBM has given us confidence that a voice ordering solution for drive-through will be part of our restaurant’s future, and we want to sincerely thank IBM and the restaurant teams that have been part of this crucial test.”

McDonald's will continue using IBM products within its global operations.

IBM expressed its intention to engage with other fast-food chains for the deployment of this technology.

IBM stated: “IBM developed automated order-taker technologies with McDonald’s to support the emerging use of voice-activated AI in restaurant drive-throughs.

“While McDonald’s is re-evaluating and refining its plans for AOT, we look forward to continuing to work with them on a variety of other projects.”

In June 2024 Japan Today reported that McDonald’s Japan plans to launch a new Asian Sweets lineup featuring three new items.