Taco Bell has extended its agreement with AI company Omilia to broaden the use of automated voice ordering across its US drive-through network.

The two companies first partnered in 2023.

Since then, the technology has been rolled out to more than 890 restaurants in 38 states, supporting Taco Bell’s drive-through Voice AI strategy and aiming to refine both customer interactions and in-store operations.

Under the renewed deal, Omilia’s Voice AI platform will continue to be implemented at Taco Bell locations across the US.

The system handles order-taking at the drive-through intercom and is configured to reflect each restaurant’s menu, real-time inventory and limited-time offers.

Taco Bell global chief digital and technology officer Dane Mathews said: “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.

“Omilia’s platform has proven itself at scale in select US restaurants, and continuing this strategic partnership supports our long-term digital and tech strategy.”

Omilia said its platform includes capabilities such as noise filtering, sub-second latency and live adaptation to menu changes.

It added that its drive-through system is powered by Omilia’s own small language models, designed for fast, context-aware transcription and tuned for the acoustic challenges of drive-through lanes.

The platform adjusts automatically to each restaurant’s menu configuration, including promotions and stock variations, limiting the need for manual retraining when items change.

Omilia co-founder and CEO Dimitris Vassos said: “The drive-through 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.

“This partnership reflects Omilia and Taco Bell’s shared commitment to delivering measurable value for customers, restaurant teams and franchisees.”