Omilia today announced a strategic agreement with Taco Bell to continue deploying its Voice AI solution across Taco Bell’s U.S. drive-thru network. This agreement deepens a partnership that began in 2023 and has since scaled to 890+ U.S. restaurants across 38 states to date, advancing Taco Bell’s Voice AI capabilities in the drive-thru while enhancing the customer and team member experience.
Under the terms of the partnership, Omilia’s leading Voice AI platform will continue to be deployed across Taco Bell’s U.S. restaurants. The solution helps automate order-taking at the drive-thru speaker, adapting to each location’s menu, real-time stock levels, and limited-time offers, helping provide a more consistent and efficient ordering experience for guests.
Data shows transaction time in the drive-thru with Voice AI is on par with, and in some cases faster than traditional order-taking methods. Taco Bell locations using Voice AI have reported higher employee retention compared to those without, enabling team members to be more present for guests and create experiences that keep them coming back.
“Omilia’s Voice AI gives us the ability to ease team members’ workloads and provides them the flexibility to engage with customers in a more meaningful way,” said Dane Mathews, Global Chief Digital & Technology Officer, Taco Bell. “Omilia’s platform has proven itself at scale in select U.S. restaurants, and continuing this strategic partnership supports our long-term digital and tech strategy.”
The Drive-Thru Challenge
The drive-thru is one of the highest-volume, highest-complexity Voice AI environments in any consumer business. Road noise, regional accents, complex order modifications, and the fast pace of quick service restaurants create technical demands that have defeated many general-purpose speech recognition platforms. Omilia’s proprietary platform was built specifically for these conditions, with noise filtering, sub-second latency, and real-time menu adaptation.
“The drive-thru environment is one of the most demanding – real-time, noisy, fast-paced, with menus that change by store and by day. It is exactly where our purpose-built Voice AI separates from general-purpose tools that have failed,” said Dimitris Vassos, CEO and Co-Founder at Omilia. “This partnership reflects Omilia and Taco Bell’s shared commitment to delivering measurable value for customers, restaurant teams and franchisees.”
How It Works
Omilia’s Voice AI Solution at the drive-thru uses proprietary small language models that provide ultra-low latency, context-sensitive transcription specifically tuned for the acoustic challenges of the drive-thru lane. The solution interprets and reasons on customer input, including slang, humor, mid-order changes, and complex customizations, and converses naturally, without latency, and without scripted menus or hallucinations.
The platform adapts in real time to each restaurant’s menu, including limited-time offers and stock variations, eliminating the need for manual retraining when menus change. Generative AI capabilities further improve natural conversational cadence and contextual understanding.
Taco Bell Deployment at a Glance
- 890+ U.S. Taco Bell restaurants live across 38 states in the U.S.
- Higher guest satisfaction at Voice AI-enabled restaurants, with customer complaints at parity or better than non-AI locations.
- Fast, seamless ordering experience with transaction speeds on par with or better than traditional order-taking methods.
- Higher employee retention at Voice AI-enabled restaurants, helping team members create meaningful guest experiences that build loyalty.
About Omilia
Omilia is the global standard for AI-driven customer service transformation. Our native Self-Learning CX Agents revolutionize how enterprises engage with customers – automating interactions with precision, empowering human agents in real time, and delivering seamless, personalized experiences across all channels. Powered by deep expertise in developing proprietary Agentic AI technology, and multi-layered anti-fraud capabilities, we enable enterprises to move decisively and safely into the era of Agentic contact centers. Omilia’s Self-Learning Agentic AI learns from across the entire customer journey – from self-service to live agent interactions – unlocking continuous improvement and breaking the “glass ceiling” of containment that legacy siloed models can’t achieve. Omilia is trusted by the world’s most demanding enterprises including Capital One, Discover, Taco Bell, RBC, DWP, First Financial Bank, Purolator, and PSEG. Built on over two decades of AI innovation, Omilia delivers measurable outcomes: lower costs, higher efficiency, and unmatched customer satisfaction – all while preserving the human touch where it matters most.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260707542838/en/
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