#Robotize fast food drivers
#Robotize fast food series

In co-operation with Starship Technologies, Domino’s Robotic Unit will use small six-wheeled robots to deliver pizza to customers within a one mile radius of stores in Germany and the Netherlands. While the drone delivery last year was no more than just a concept, Domino’s does plan to have wheeled robots deliver pizza to customers in Europe by the end of the year. The history-making customer lived in Whangaparaoa, New Zealand. In late 2016 Domino’s partnered with Flirtey, a drone company, to complete the first commercial delivery of food by flying drone to a customer. The more futuristic efforts Domino’s is involved in include not one but two different types of autonomous delivery systems. According to Domino’s it has reduced driving incidents by 50%.

#Robotize fast food drivers

Using machine learning and voice recognition, the company is hoping to make ordering fast, natural and even entertaining.ĭomino’s use of integrated GPS tracking for their drivers doesn’t just let the people track their pizza deliveries in real time down to the second, but it also provides the corporation with a wealth of data to improve efficiency and safety. In addition to app order and payment systems across every possible platform, Domino’s has invested in an artificially intelligent virtual assistant that customers can talk or text. Dominos Pizza Delivery Robot is still in R&D, and pilot programs (likely in Europe and New Zealand) will help flesh out the future possibilities of autonomous pizza delivery.

They seem to be taking a wet-spaghetti approach, throwing every possible innovation they can at the wall to see what sticks. Domino’s has a website dedicated to showing off the wide technology they are involved in. Perhaps no fast food company has so aggressively and broadly embraced technology as Domino’s, with the CEO claiming they are as much a tech company as they are a pizza company. Domino’s – Drones, Robots, Pizza Trackers, Apps, and Everything The giants of the industry (like the giants in the stodgy automotive industry) are all aware that technology will be a critical edge in the years ahead, and R&D budgets in automation and new customer interfaces reflect this change in attitude. Companies that weren’t technology companies suddenly are, and nobody wants to be left in the dust.

The stock performance of Dominos over the last 7 years has gone from about $13 to well over $200, and it’s hard for competition to ignore. Former McDonald’s USA CEO Ed Rensi told Fox Business that, “It’s cheaper to buy a $35,000 robotic arm than it is to hire an employee who’s inefficient making $15 an hour bagging French fries.”Īs in any industry, fast food also has a tendency to follow the leader. For example, a recently approved initiative in Washington State will raise the minimum wage to $13.50 an hour by 2020 and last year California adopted a law that will bring the minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2022.

New state and local minimum wage legislation that particularly impacts fast food companies.Īt the beginning of the year the minimum wage increased in 19 states.

The end of the great recession is resulting in a tightening of the labor force pushing up wages.

Wages for fast food companies seem to be being pushed up by two primary causes: Rising wages and a need to keep prices low have given several fast food companies a strong incentive to develop technologies to increase efficiency and reduce labor costs.

#Robotize fast food series

We’ve put together executive quotes and the latest innovations from six of the largest fast food giants on the planet, and distilled them down into this article.Īs our subscribers already know, we take our readers’ time seriously, so we tend to “show” more than we “tell.” We collected a series of short videos, gifs, and screen-shot images to visually demonstrate the robotics and AI use cases we articulate, so that you’ll be able to see the applications in use, and better understand their potential uses or implications in your own industry.īefore we dive into the robotics and AI use cases from the six fast food giants, it’s important to gain some context on why this industry is keen on innovation now: Factors Driving AI and Robotics Adoption in Food Service How can I use these trends and use cases to make better planning decisions for my company / division?.What are the largest and most innovative food service businesses doing now to automate their work?.What tasks are most likely to be automated by robotics and AI in the fast food industry?.

We set out to ask the questions that business leaders would need to know: Burger flipping is often used as derogatory shorthand for low-skilled, low-tech work, but fast food companies have been making major investments in automation, apps, analytics, artificial intelligence, and robotics.