McDonald’s digital drive-through menus will soon recommend items to customers based on the weather, time of day and how busy the store is at the moment, part of a big investment in artificial intelligence (AI) that the fast food giant hopes will create a more personalised experience. Chicago-based McDonald’s announced Monday that it plans to acquire Dynamic Yield, a company based in New York and Tel Aviv that specialises in decision logic technology. The US$300 million acquisition is McDonald’s largest since the fast food giant bought most of Chipotle 20 years ago, sources close to the company said. McDonald’s tested Dynamic Yield’s technology in several of its restaurants last year and will roll it out to drive-throughs across the country this year, then in international markets. It also plans to integrate the technology into its mobile ordering app and the self-service kiosks inside stores. According to Wired magazine, the Dynamic Yield acquisition should not be viewed as the start of a digital transformation at the fast-food giant, but as a catalyst that evolves it. “What we hadn’t done is begun to connect the technology together, and get the various pieces talking to each other,” said McDonald’s CEO Steve Easterbrook, in an exclusive interview with the tech media title. “How do you transition from mass marketing to mass personalisation? To do that, you’ve really got to unlock the data within that ecosystem in a way that is useful to a customer.” Xiaomi steps up AI emphasis in new reshuffle The algorithms will crunch data as diverse as the weather, time of day, local traffic, nearby events, and historical sales data, both at that specific McDonald’s franchise and around the world. For customers, that might mean menus will highlight ice cream on a hot day and a McCafe on a cold day, in addition to items that pair well with whatever the customer just ordered. The software will also track wait times at the restaurant so that, during busy periods, the menu suggests items that are easier for staff to make, allowing the drive-through to run smoother. Drive-through wait times have increased annually for about the last five years, Easterbrook said during the company’s last earnings call, and the company has been looking at ways to halt that trend. Restaurant chains have been trying to follow the lead of retailers like Amazon and Walmart that use mounds of data collected on their e-commerce sites to suggest items shoppers might want to buy. McDonald’s says it will be among the first to bring the technology to its physical stores. “With this acquisition, we’re expanding both our ability to increase the role technology and data will play in our future and the speed with which we’ll be able to implement our vision of creating more personalised experiences for our customers,” Easterbrook said in a news release. McDonald’s reported US$21 billion in revenues last year. Chinese university uses AI to check class attendance rates and find the reasons behind absenteeism McDonald’s will be the sole owner of Dynamic Yield, which will continue to operate as a stand-alone company and serve other clients. Its clients include Urban Outfitters, Sephora and Ikea, according to its website. In a video released by McDonald’s with the announcement, Easterbrook said: “When you serve 68 million customers every day, our ability to learn about our customers and play that back through this technology is unbeatable, it gives us a huge competitive advantage.”