The 2026 QSR Drive-Thru Report suggests that while drive-thru voice AI has improved at taking orders, the technology may have inadvertently led to less friendly human interactions. The study, conducted by Intouch Insight, found that voice AI order accuracy increased to 89%, up from 84% in 2025.
Overall service satisfaction rose from 91% to 95%, and the share of interactions where the voice AI system handled the entire order doubled, rising from 20% to 40%. However, when voice AI took the order, the employee at the pickup window was 23.9 percentage points less likely to say “thank you” and 15.7 points less likely to have a pleasant demeanor.
The report highlights that technology is freeing up time for workers, but it is not translating to better customer service. Sarah Beckett, VP of sales and marketing at Intouch Insight, noted that “hospitality may not always be the first factor customers name, but they clearly notice when it’s missing.”
Bob Hutchins, CEO of Human Voice Media, believes that the loss of human interaction through the drive-thru speaker may be contributing to the discomfort with automated ordering. He said that hearing a person through the speaker used to mean that someone on-site was paying attention.
Quicker service doesn’t always feel quicker, either. While AI interactions were faster on average, 20.4% of shoppers perceived them as slower than expected, compared with 13.8% of shoppers at drive-thrus without voice AI technology.
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The findings suggest that voice AI systems that simply greet customers and then hand them off to a person may be creating friction without contributing much value. Patrick Gibbs, founder of Epiphany Trends, recommends that restaurants have a clear path back to a person whenever something goes wrong.
Successful systems, he said, hand off quickly when asked and make error recovery visible to customers. Dane Mathews, Taco Bell’s global chief digital and technology officer, noted that “the best technology creates space for better hospitality.”
Customer satisfaction reached 98.6% whenever mystery shoppers described the service they received as “friendly,” compared with 26.8% when they didn’t.
The report’s findings also show that AI isn’t perfect, as the share of shoppers who described their voice AI interaction as “somewhat difficult or frustrating” increased from 7% to 19% year over year. As the use of voice AI in drive-thrus continues to grow, they must prioritize hospitality and ensure that technology is used to enhance, rather than hinder, the customer experience.
