McDonald's acquired voice recognition AI startup, aiming to drive-through efficiency
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McDonald's announced on September 10, 2019 that it has acquired Apprente , a startup that develops speech recognition AI. McDonald's is committed to drive-through efficiency, and Apprente's voice recognition AI is expected to help when ordering drive-through.
We are investing in the future of McDonald's through the agreement to acquire Apprente, a voice-based tech start-up | McDonald's Corporation
https://news.mcdonalds.com/stories/company-news-details/acquistion-of-Apprente-a-voice-based-tech-start-up/
McDonald's Acquires Apprente to Double Down on Tech | WIRED
https://www.wired.com/story/mcdonalds-acquires-apprente-voice-ai/
Prior to the acquisition of Apprente, McDonald's acquired machine learning startup Dynamic Yield in March 2019 for $ 300 million. Dynamic Yield provides personalization and decision-making technology that can optimize the menus displayed to drive-thru customers for different conditions.
McDonald's expects to optimize the drive-through menu for each purchaser using AI-gigazine
Apprente, acquired by McDonald's, is a startup founded in 2017 that develops voice-based conversational AI. In speech recognition in noisy restaurants and public places, and in unstructured colloquial recognition that depends on the situation and context, Apprente's technology is more accurate than a model that converts speech directly into text about. With this technology in place, it is believed that orders can be processed more quickly than if only humans were responsible for operations through drive-through.
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Wired also points out that Apprente is completely absorbed by McDonald, while Dynamic Yield, which was previously acquired, remains an independent company under McDonald's. Wired states that the Apprente acquisition is “This is a defensive acquisition,” and believes it also aims to prevent competitors such as Burger King and Wendy from using Apprente technology.
Apprente employees will be part of the newly established McD Tech Labs team within McDonald's, and will continue to develop the latest technology that will help McDonald's business. McD Tech Labs is a group based in Silicon Valley and is expected to work on the development of high-speed drive-through systems based on technology.
McDonald said that Apprente ’s voice-recognition AI was first applied to drive-through, but said that similar technology could be incorporated into in-store kiosks and mobile apps.
by Mike Mozart
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