Comment by r0me1
6 months ago
Because I don't want to touch the same screen that 1000 other people have touched since it was last cleaned and because I dont want to learn how to navigate a new menu every time I stop at a new fast food place, I just want my chicken chalupa without needing to navigate menus. If you've ever stayed in line at the order kiosk at mcdonalds you'll quickly realize how slow people are to place an order, now imagine that in the drive thru
> I don't want to touch the same screen that 1000 other people have touched since it was last cleaned
How do you handle doors in public spaces? People have been touching door handles to enter fast food restaurants for decades and we've been fine.
> you'll quickly realize how slow people are
This, I think, is the real reason we won't see screens at drive-throughs. Screens can work in-store because you can have many screens to compensate for slow people. To apply the same for cars you'd either need the screen move with the car as it moves through the line, which would likely mean placing the order on your phone, or you'd need significant infra to create many stalls where cars can place orders. For the latter, Sonic is well positioned for this with their drive-in stalls but most other fast food restaurants don't have the physical space for that.
> How do you handle doors in public spaces? People have been touching door handles to enter fast food restaurants for decades and we've been fine.
I go to the wc and wash my hands before touching my food, can't do that if I'm ordering in the drive thru and I dont always have hand sanitizer around and don't really like using it either
McDonald’s and Taco Bell actually have a great, working solution to this. You order in their app, and they provide a code you give to the drive thru attendant (to pick and place the order into the queue). The customer places their order on their own mobile device at their own pace, but you still have a human for people who don’t use the app or don't have a mobile device. They provide free food and other incentives when placing your order with the app, which I think is fine from a behavioral economics and price discrimination perspective. No AI required.