McDonald's bets $8.5 billion on Archy AI drive-thru

McDonald's has been here before. In 2024, the company ended a drive-thru AI experiment with IBM called Automated Order Taker after testing it at more than 100 restaurants, where the system struggled to understand customers and get orders right. That history makes the new $8.5-billion, through-2036 commitment notable: this is a second attempt, not a first foray.

The centerpiece is Archy, which McDonald's says is already taking real drive-thru orders in English and Spanish and getting them right more than 90% of the time. For context, a 2025 Intouch Insight study of AI-powered drive-thru visits found the technology got orders right 83% of the time, compared with 87% across the study overall. That study also found AI was faster, shaving about 21 seconds off service times on average, but customers were more likely to have to repeat themselves.

McDonald's describes the test as part of its long-standing "test-and-learn" approach, with AI handling tasks like order-taking and several systems working together behind the scenes so employees can spend more time helping customers. The company has also said customer satisfaction at restaurants testing the system is running above national trends. Whether that holds as Archy scales will likely determine if this second bet pays off where the first did not.