Wendy’s, one of the most popular fast-food restaurants in the US, is making moves to become the most futuristic fast food chain in the business.
The burger joint wants to start integrating underground tunnel systems into its parking lots, through which self-driving robots will deliver food straight from Wendy’s kitchen to customers in their cars.
According to an announcement, Wendy’s will soon pilot the underground robot system.
And if the pilot is a success, drive-through could be about to change forever.
Thanks to Wendy’s still conceptual subterranean burger bot delivery plan, days of long drive-through queues and wait times could be a thing of the past.
Wendy’s Subterranean Burger-Bots Will Deliver Food Right to Your Parked Car
The initial robots will be provided by tech start-up Pipedream Labs, a company that says it wants to make 30-second delivery times possible this decade with underground pipes.
The process will work like this: a customer will order the food they want on their mobile, they will then park in a Wendy’s car park next to an Instant Pickup kiosk, before then checking in with the restaurant via a speaker.
Pipedream’s fleet of subterranean burger bots will then transport a customer’s order directly to the Instant Pickup kiosk next to their car.
Pipedream’s robots will be temperature controlled, ensuring that customer food remains at the optimal temperature for the duration of its transit from kitchen to customer.
“As mobile ordering preferences continue to grow, we’re excited to be the first quick-service restaurant to team up with Pipedream, utilizing their innovative delivery technology and system with the aim of transforming digital pick-ups to deliver more Wendy’s to more customers as swiftly and effectively as possible,” stated Wendy’s senior vice president and CTO Matt Spessard.
Wendy’s is at the Forefront of Fast-food Tech Innovation
Wendy’s plans to revolutionize the drive-through with its new kitchen-to-car park subterranean robot delivery system are not the only big tech-driven changes the fast-food chain wants to make to its business.
The company announced plans to integrate generative artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot technology into its drive-throughs in a new partnership with Google.
Generative AI is the technology that underpins GPT-3 powered viral application ChatGPT, which was released by OpenAI last November.
Wendy’s has reportedly been working with the US tech giant to develop a Large Language Model (LLM) that is trained on data such as Wendy’s menu options, as well as an improved ability to understand regional accents and dialects.
Apparently, the chatbot, which will talk directly with customers instead of a customer service representative, will be programmed to upsell customers on their orders.
Very soon, you could either be talking to AI when going through Wendy’s drive-through, or having your food delivered to you right in your car via underground robots.
Wendy’s very much appears to be at the forefront of fast-food technology innovation.
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