AI drive-thru restaurants: smarter, faster service

AI voice agents are already taking orders at hundreds of drive-thru lanes across the country. Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, and KFC, for example, are rolling out the technology in 500 locations to reduce wait times, boost upsells, and deliver consistent service, even during peak hours.

Human staff still rely on noisy headsets, often leading to long lines, missed orders, and limited availability. Customers, on the other hand, expect fast, accurate, and natural interactions, regardless of who’s behind the mic.

That pressure is prompting quick-service restaurants (QSRs) to adopt voice AI solutions that understand intent in real-time, upsell intelligently, and route orders directly into point-of-sale (POS) systems. When built on Telnyx’s full-stack infrastructure, these systems are easy to deploy, fully customizable, and reliable at scale.

We’ll show what you can build with Telnyx, from AI agents that take orders to complete drive-thru automation workflows. That means faster lanes, higher ticket sizes, and consistent service across every location.

Why drive-thrus are going AI-first in 2025

The quick-service industry operates within tight margins. Rising labor costs, high turnover rates, and increasing customer expectations make it harder for operators to maintain profitability while delivering fast, high-quality service.

Consumers now expect accuracy, personalization, and near-instant gratification, and they’re less tolerant of mistakes or long wait times. Traditional drive-thru systems haven’t kept pace with customer demand.

Legacy setups still rely heavily on manual order-taking, introducing inconsistency and friction. Human staff can mishear an order, forget to upsell, or struggle with a customer’s accent, especially during busy shifts.

Once placed, orders often require re-entry into the POS, resulting in additional delays and an increased risk of errors. AI voice assistants address these issues by providing a standardized service that remains consistent under pressure.

They operate 24/7 with the same level of accuracy, regardless of background noise or queue length. They boost ticket sizes with contextual upsells, understand regional speech patterns, and handle multi-passenger orders with clarity and efficiency.

Most importantly, they route orders directly into your existing POS and kitchen display systems, reducing delays and improving workflow.

What AI assistants can do at the drive-thru window

Modern voice AI systems are designed for dynamic, high-noise environments, such as drive-thru lanes, where speed and clarity of orders are crucial. AI built on Telnyx transcribes voice input in real time with high accuracy, even when customers speak quickly, use slang, or have strong regional accents. And with built-in multilingual support, restaurants can serve diverse communities without needing fluent speakers on every shift.

The models effectively handle environmental noise, including idling engines, weather, and road traffic, without compromising performance. With speaker labeling built in, AI distinguishes between multiple voices in a single vehicle, ensuring each item is correctly assigned to the right person.

These assistants also function as intelligent upsellers. When a customer places an order, the system can identify upsell opportunities on the spot, offering to add fries, upgrade to a combo, or promote a limited-time offer.

This logic can be customized by restaurant operators and updated in real-time across all locations, without requiring additional staff training. The result is a consistent, chain-wide approach to increasing average ticket value.

Once an order is confirmed, the AI assistant sends it directly into the POS system. There’s no need for manual re-entry or audio relay between the drive-thru headset and the register. That means fewer errors, faster fulfillment, and a smoother experience for both customers and staff.

Real-world drive-thru scenarios powered by voice AI

During peak periods, staff are often stretched thin. An AI assistant can handle the full order-taking flow, allowing human employees to focus on preparing food, managing drive-thru handoffs, and addressing exceptions.

By offloading voice interactions to AI, restaurants can keep cars moving and deliver consistent service, even in complex, multi-lane drive-thru setups. AI-powered assistants maintain lane context, manage multiple active sessions in parallel, and accurately link each order to the correct vehicle. This reduces confusion, prevents incorrect handoffs, and ensures customers receive the right order the first time.

Consistency is another advantage. Human staff may vary in how they pitch promotions or upsells, especially when they’re new, distracted, or overwhelmed. AI assistants don’t have that variability.

They apply your upsell logic and promotional scripts consistently, every time, across all locations. That kind of reliability is challenging to replicate solely through training and even more difficult to maintain across shifts and franchises.

When it comes to kitchen operations, AI shortens the path between customer intent and kitchen action. Orders placed through Telnyx-powered assistants are routed in real time from the microphone to the POS to the kitchen screen.

There’s no middle step and no transcription lag. This speed helps improve order accuracy, reduce customer wait times, and maximize throughput during busy periods.

Build smarter drive-thrus with real-time voice AI

For QSRs, a major challenge is finding a way to modernize the drive-thru without rebuilding systems from scratch or compromising on speed and accuracy. That’s where Telnyx comes in.

Telnyx provides the building blocks to design AI-powered drive-thru experiences that actually work, at scale, in real-time, and on your terms. It starts with our Voice API, the control layer that lets you define voice logic and integrate with your POS and kitchen workflows. Then you add Telnyx Voice AI, which delivers fast and accurate transcription, along with natural conversation, designed to handle accents, background noise, and dynamic, real-world speech.

Everything runs on Telnyx’s full-stack infrastructure, from SIP to speech recognition to global voice routing. That means no vendor lock-in, no audio dropouts, and no integration headaches—just smooth, reliable service that keeps cars moving through the line.

What sets Telnyx apart is the level of control, flexibility, and performance you get out of the box. Whether you’re piloting automation in one lane or rolling it out across a franchise, you’ll see fewer errors, faster fulfillment, and more consistent upselling, with no disruptions to your current systems.