McDonald's Robot Drive Thru In Texas
Keegan Dillon • January 6, 2023
McDonald’s robotic drive-thru service in Texas
McDonald’s is currently testing a robotic drive-thru service in Texas. This drive-thru restaurant is focused on pick-up and delivery services but not the dine-in experience. This experimental McDonald’s restaurant is located in Fort Worth, Texas, for customers planning to eat on the go or dine at home.
Via Instagram: @Foodie_Munster
Fast Food Automation
The smaller than traditional McDonald’s is not fully automated but requires no human interaction to order or pick up your food. Orders are made inside the restaurant at a kiosk, in the drive-thru, or on the McDonald’s app. Customers then receive their food and beverage orders on a conveyor belt. If you want curbside pick-up, outside of the restaurant, there are multiple parking spaces for this as well.
Watch the video below that describes the customer experience. It is similar to a human-staffed McDonald’s with touchscreen kiosks inside the restaurant, but this has automated machine servers when you pick up your food.
The Future Of Restaurant Automation
This restaurant is not 100% automated, as humans still cook and prepare fast food orders inside the building. The food preparation tasks still need to be performed by humans, but some customers are concerned this automation will put more people out of work. This new process has divided many people who are skeptical about the change and lack of human interaction.
Currently, McDonald’s has no plans to test the automated process in other locations around the United States other than this first location in Texas. The multibillion-dollar restaurant cha in is now focused on what they call “Accelerating the Arches.” This a growth strategy where they are trying to improve the customer experiences within their restaurants. They want to test and learn from new technologies and concepts to streamline the customer experience.
Via Instagram: @Foodie_Munster
This is a significant experiment for the largest fast food chain in the world. If this location becomes successful and the McDonald’s team can “test and learn” from this experiment in Texas, it could be a significant change for the company moving forward. The next step may be automating the food assembly process, but then morally, can the company or others like it be okay with the potential backlash of lost jobs?
Sources: Newsweek.
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