McDonald’s tests Archy, an AI drive-thru voice for English and Spanish

McDonald’s has tested Archy, an AI drive-thru voice system that achieved over 90% accuracy in early trials at five U.S. locations. Archy, part of the broader ArchIQ platform, tracks inventory, monitors kitchen equipment with cameras, uses scales to verify orders, and can save each restaurant more than 50 staff hours per week while reducing food waste by 15%. The system runs on Google Cloud edge computers, is already installed in thousands of restaurants, and the company plans to complete a nationwide edge rollout by 2027 as part of its Next strategy.