Fast-food chain continues its investment in AI-fueled technology; plans to roll out SoundHound’s voice AI drive-thru service to over 100 lanes by the end of 2024

SoundHound AI, Inc., a global leader in voice artificial intelligence, and White Castle, America’s first fast-food hamburger chain, today announced a first-of-its-kind expansion of their partnership to deliver a superior voice AI-enabled drive-thru experience to restaurant customers across multiple locations nationwide.

In the first phase of its partnership, SoundHound’s technology powered voice AI ordering technology at select White Castle drive-thrus. This new agreement between the two companies will grow that coverage to over 100 of White Castle’s US drive-thru lanes by the end of 2024 – many of which will run 24/7.

Unlike other available options, SoundHound’s technology is based on complete end-to-end AI, and is not a human-assisted system. That means it relies entirely upon intelligent automation to deliver a fast, accurate, scalable, and consistent service right across locations and channels (including kiosk, phone, and other devices).

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“White Castle is committed to investing in the best available technology to create welcoming and enjoyable drive-thru experiences for our customers”

SoundHound and White Castle’s next big step marks a commitment to take sophisticated drive-thru AI to broad implementation based on years of proven results. These include:

• 90% order completion rates that exceed previous staff-based benchmarks
• Average order taken and processed in just over 60 seconds
• Consistent, reliable, and “always on” performance
• Scalable and repeatable infrastructure

“White Castle is committed to investing in the best available technology to create welcoming and enjoyable drive-thru experiences for our customers,” said Mike Guinan, Vice President, Operations Services for White Castle. “Our partnership with SoundHound has allowed us to be first movers in this space and we’re excited to do even more to satisfy cravers everywhere. Working together, we’ll be able to deliver the drive-thru experience of tomorrow today.”

An upcoming study by SoundHound reveals that a majority of customers (over 60%) are already comfortable using an automated voice assistant at a drive-thru. Even the majority of the segment that are “AI skeptics” would willingly use an automated voice assistant to order if it speeds up the process. Well over half of all customers (57%) state that long lines at the drive-thru are their biggest pain point, ahead of incorrect orders (52%).

“Together, White Castle and SoundHound are uniting great food and great technology to give quick service restaurant customers the most advanced ordering experience available today,” said Keyvan Mohajer, Co-Founder and CEO of SoundHound. “We know that AI is going to be a keystone of the restaurant of the future, and we’re delighted to take another step towards that by bringing our deep AI knowledge to even more locations.”

This partnership builds on SoundHound’s innovative track record in the services space, spanning capabilities and products including its breakthrough Dynamic Interaction, and phone-based Smart Answering and Smart Ordering offerings.

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