Unsplash: @visualbywahyu
McDonald’s is piloting a new AI-powered operating system called ArchIQ at five locations across the US, built in partnership with Google and featuring a voice assistant nicknamed “Archy” that takes drive-thru orders without human input.
The system was unveiled at the company’s Worldwide Convention in Las Vegas as part of CEO Chris Kempczinski’s broader “McDonald’s Next” strategy, which also covers restaurant redesigns and staffing changes.
According to McFranchisee, an anonymous McDonald’s franchisee account on X, ArchIQ has already processed over one million transactions across the five test stores, with a reported 90% completion rate and support for both English and Spanish orders.
Meet Archy IQ – no, we are not new to AOT. In fact, we have been in this AI field for about 8 years. We sold our in-house model to IBM and moved on as it wasn’t good enough for our needs.
As mentioned below, I wanted to hire Google (who uses NVIDIA) to service our AOT 3 years… https://t.co/JR8QHQNyKJ pic.twitter.com/e0syxiQwre
— McFranchisee (@McFranchisee) June 3, 2026
McDonald’s second shot at AI ordering
This is not McDonald’s first attempt. The chain shut down its AI drive-thru pilot with IBM in 2024 after running it at over 100 locations for three years, following a wave of customer complaints about wrong orders.
ArchIQ goes further than just order-taking. According to Fox Business, the platform is designed to act as a “master brain” for managers, flagging potential operational issues before they cause problems.
Every McDonald’s in the US is also set to receive Google Edge Cloud hardware ahead of a wider rollout.
Public reaction has been mixed, with some customers pushing back over concerns about losing human interaction and the potential impact on food service jobs.
Kempczinski has said the goal is not to trade hospitality for speed, but to make both possible at the same time.
