McDonald's Acquire AI Startup to Automate Drive-Thru

McDonald's (NYSE: MCD) announced on Tuesday that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Apprente, an early stage artificial intelligence company. The acquisition will help further advanced McDonald's employee and customer interaction and strengthen its technology capabilities. Apprente, founded in 2017, creates voice-based platforms for multilingual, multi-accent, and multi-item conversational ordering. The technology can be used in McDonald's restaurants to simplify and speed up orders at the Drive Thru. "Building our technology infrastructure and digital capabilities are fundamental to our Velocity Growth Plan and enable us to meet rising expectations from our customers, while making it simpler and even more enjoyable for crew members to serve guests" said Steve Easterbrook, President and Chief Executive Officer, McDonald's Corporation.