AI to take your order isn’t brand new. Casey’s for example, uses AVA, an AI-powered order taker, to answer the phone when callers order a pizza. Major QSRs looked at the tech for drive-thru order taking before the pandemic.

In May, NACS Daily shared reports that testing at Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s showed AI at the drive-thru resulted in increased revenue.

But, like many things AI, an inflection point may be occurring where the tech is no longer novel. Joanna Stern, a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, visited a Hardee’s in Maryland 30 times to test the tech.

“In three years I don’t think there’s going to be any human taking an order in any drive-through in the U.S.,” Krishna Gupta, chief executive of Presto, a provider of the technology at nearly 350 restaurants across the country, including Hardee’s and Del Taco, told the Journal.

“Out of my roughly 30 passes with Presto’s system, a human only had to step in three times to help out,” Stern wrote. Once was when she waited too long to place her order. Another time was when she asked how many calories were in a sandwich and the third came about when she asked about allergens.

But the tech had no problems with normal orders, even with substitutions and order changes or with ambient sounds like dogs barking or babies crying.

The Journal reported that the Hardee’s location using the AI solution has been chronically short-staffed since the pandemic. “This technology doesn’t so much replace restaurant workers as make up for a lack of them.”

And every interaction included an attempted upsell, with the AI offering a $1.59 peach pie. Stern wrote that she finally gave in and tried the desert.