SoundHound to demo AI drive-thru and guest support tools in Chicago

SoundHound used the National Restaurant Association Show in Chicago to put a sharper edge on where restaurant automation is headed: not just taking orders, but handling guest support, IT tickets, and the data trail that follows every interaction. The company said on May 12 that it would show OASYS agentic AI at Booth #6857 at McCormick Place during the May 16 to 19 show, with live demos of AI drive-thru, kiosk, and smart-TV ordering alongside enterprise AI agents for guest and IT services.

For Taco Bell crews, the clearest near-term shift is in the work that happens before a guest ever reaches the window. Repetitive order-taking, standard menu prompts, and simple add-on suggestions are the first tasks most likely to be absorbed by voice AI and kiosk systems. SoundHound said OASYS is built to power seamless ordering and intelligent automation across front of house, back of house, and off-premise channels, which points to a more connected store where speed metrics, order accuracy, and guest recovery are tracked together instead of separately. The harder calls still belong to people: fixing a wrong order, handling a frustrated guest, or stepping in when the system cannot keep up with a rush.

The same technology also reaches inside the shift. SoundHound said its platform can turn live drive-thru conversations into coaching opportunities and automate guest support and IT ticket creation. That matters for shift leads and managers, who are likely to spend more time reviewing dashboards, correcting slowdowns, and coaching crew on how to work around automated ordering as much as using it. A smoother line can reduce friction, but it also makes every hesitation, override, and escalation more visible to corporate systems.

Yum! Brands has already committed Taco Bell to that path. On July 31, 2024, Yum said it was expanding voice AI across Taco Bell drive-thru locations in the U.S., targeting hundreds of stores by the end of 2024, after the technology had already reached more than 100 Taco Bell U.S. drive-thrus in 13 states. Yum said then that the goal was to modernize drive-thrus and improve the experience for consumers and restaurant team members.

The bigger corporate picture explains why the pressure is not likely to ease. Yum said Chris Turner became chief executive officer effective October 1, 2025, while Sean Tresvant became chief consumer officer and continued leading Taco Bell. Yum says it operates more than 63,000 restaurants in 155 countries and territories, a scale that makes even small efficiency gains meaningful. Taco Bell has also acknowledged it is still deciding when to use AI and when to rely on humans after viral ordering glitches and prank orders exposed the limits of drive-thru automation. That tension is now the real story for the people on the line.