Next time you’re at McDonald’s®, it may be a robot asking you if you want fries with your order. As the war on minimum wage rages on, fast-food companies are looking for cheaper ways to deliver service. Instead of driving up the cost of a double cheeseburger to help pay their employees’ salaries, fast-food industries are looking to replace their employees by using automatons instead.
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Within the next 3 years, Panera Bread® will be introducing self-service kiosks so customers can place their own orders. They also plan to add a mobile ordering option to all their locations, as well. Applebee’s and Chili’s have already started to incorporate technology into their restaurants by having iPad® devices at every table. The iPad allows the customer to order and pay for their food without having to interact with the employees. Having customers take their own orders could potentially cut down on the number of orders made incorrectly from improper communication!
Self-driving cars and drones may also be taking over the restaurant industry, putting many delivery drivers out of business. Google just introduced its very own self-driving car that can carry up to two people and goes 25 miles per hour. There is still some work to be done to these cars, so customers in rural areas can still get their pizzas in under 20 minutes, but at the moment, this car is the safest self-driving car out there!
To see how robots are taking over the world, check out these other Strange but True news stories!
You Won’t Believe What Your Next Workplace Robot Will Do!
‘Jobocalypse’ Will Make Most (Human) Workers Obsolete
You have to wonder if customers will eventually rebel against this technology–either because they realize the impact on workers or just because of bugs in the technology. A local grocery chain (part of a national chain) got rid of its self-checkout aisles recently. I know I’ve found self-checkout to be more annoying than it’s worth.