The largest players in the US fast food market are planning to implement license plate recognition technology for drive-thru format.
With its help, companies expect to accelerate and personalize customer service. With the introduction of technology, fast food chains will be able to instantly identify customers in line and offer them personalized menus.
The license plate recognition system (LPR) was invented in the UK in the 70s of the last century, recalls the Financial Times. Initially, it was available only for automatic fare collection, as well as for video recording of violations by car owners and the search for stolen cars.
But in recent years, the scope of the system has been growing. The first in the food & beverage market was Starbucks coffee chain, which tested the technology in establishments in the South Korean market in 2018. Now many companies around the world plan to follow her example. In the spring of last year, about the possibility of using technology to personalize the smart menu talked at McDonald's.
Experts note that through the use of LPR, retailers will be able to associate a specific car with a customer's bank card, which means that in the future they will not need to use a wallet or phone in order to make a payment. Customers who are members of the network's loyalty program will be able to add a car number to their profile, and cameras at the entrance to the drive-thru will transmit customer information to speed up service.
Either way, camera-based customer identification is just one of the tools that stores are trying to become more efficient in the face of online competition. Among them are also systems that track the presence of goods on the shelves in stores, as well as "smart" cameras that determine the interest of customers in a product by facial expressions.