Hi Auto today announced the launch of its AI voice-cloning feature, which delivers the most personalized voice AI-enabled drive-thru experience. Hi Auto’s voice cloning solution enables Quick Service Restaurants (QSRs) to incorporate fully customized voice options into their drive-thru voice AI ordering technology.
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Keith Byars (Photo: Business Wire)
This game-changing feature provides drive-thru customers with a more personalized and novel ordering experience, ultimately enhancing customer engagement. Hi Auto’s AI voice cloning records and captures all the nuances of a particular person’s voice, including tone, accent and dialect. With just a few minutes of original recorded speech, Hi Auto can create a digital voice indistinguishable from the original speaker and seamlessly incorporate it into a store’s order-taking system.
Lee’s Famous Recipe Chicken, an early adopter of Hi Auto’s drive-thru voice AI ordering technology, plans to launch the new voice cloning feature as a test in its select Ohio drive-thru locations. Guests who visit Lee’s Famous Recipe Chicken Ohio locations will be greeted with the voice of sports broadcaster and former NFL player Keith Byars. Byars grew up in Ohio and went on to play football at Ohio State. In 2000 Keith was inducted into the Ohio State Hall of Fame and in 2020 he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. Byers proceeded to play in the National Football League for 13 seasons, playing for teams including Philadelphia Eagles, Miami Dolphins, New England Patriots and New York Jets. Currently, Byars hosts “The Keith Byars Show” which can be heard on ESPN 1410 WING-AM in Dayton, Ohio.
“Lee’s has been blessed to partner with Hi Auto since December of 2020, utilizing their AI voice recognition technology to help our employees and restaurants through the pandemic. We look forward to implementing their latest innovation to make our customer’s drive-thru experience the most unique experience in the Dayton market,” said Lee’s Famous Recipe® Chicken Owner and Operator Chuck Doran. “We’ve partnered with Keith Byars since his radio program launched 2018. The integrity, quality and excellence Keith brought to the football field and continues to bring to his broadcasts is what we strive to provide every customer that visits Lee’s. This is just one more step in that quest.”
“Three years ago, Lee’s embarked on a pioneering journey with Hi Auto, leveraging their cutting-edge artificial intelligence for our drive-thru orders, marking a milestone in operational efficiency and customer service,” said Ryan Weaver, CEO of Lee’s Famous Recipe Chicken. “This collaboration not only enhanced our labor efficiency by saving approximately 5-6 hours daily, but also significantly improved order consistency and upselling conversions.”
Hi Auto’s voice AI ordering technology, which is deployed in over 400 drive-thru locations across the U.S., is transforming how QSRs serve their customers by helping to optimize the deployment of valuable staff hours and improve the speed and accuracy of orders. Voice AI reduces the time employees spend taking orders from customers which translates to faster drive-through and pick-ups, shorter queues, and greater workforce efficiency, so employees can spend more time on more critical tasks.
Commenting on the new AI voice-cloning feature, Hi Auto’s CEO and Co-Founder Roy Baharav said, “Hi Auto’s AI voice cloning aims to humanize the customer drive through experience, by giving automated attendants a “real” voice. For restaurants, having their own unique voice is essential in creating a memorable personal experience, and genuinely enhancing brand identity. We are rolling out the ability to clone voices at the national level as well as the local level, allowing franchisees to tailor the voice to their business needs. Just like with accuracy and speed, we are doing it at full scale at hundreds of stores.”
AI voice cloning provides:
- Geographical Comfort – providing voice or accent familiar to a particular region
- Unique brand identity – leveraging personal custom voice to strengthen brand recognition
- A more conversational experience
- Better adoption of AI because it is more humanized
- A more enriched drive-thru experience with a voice strategy that can change at different times of the day, during holidays, etc.
- Local opportunity for “hometown” importance
About Hi Auto
Hi Auto is the leader in drive-thru voice AI ordering using natural language processing and high-accuracy voice recognition. Hi Auto’s technology is quickly revolutionizing the Quick Service Restaurant experience at the drive-through by optimizing order taking, increasing upsells, shortening waiting times and reducing labor costs. Hi Auto’s voice technology has quickly become America’s “Employee of the Month.”
Hi Auto is the first company in the world to widely deploy high-scale voice ordering in drive-through restaurants throughout the United States including Checkers and Rally’s where every voice AI store runs on Hi Auto. While the company previously sold through a reseller, Hi Auto now sells directly to its restaurant customers. Expanding quickly across the country and also internationally, Hi Auto’s technology is currently utilized in more than 20 states and over 400 locations in the United States.
For more information visit: Hi.Auto
About Lee’s Famous Recipe Chicken
For more than 55 years, Lee’s Famous Recipe® Chicken, a quick service franchise founded in Lima, Ohio, has specialized in fresh, never frozen chicken. Lee’s is recognized as the #1 Fast Food Fried Chicken by the 2023 USA Today’s 10Best Readers’ Choice Awards. Today, there are more than 130 Lee’s Famous Recipe® Chicken locations in 12 U.S. states and in Canada, most are individually owned and operated. Lee’s is a partner of GiftAMeal and works to fight hunger through local food banks. For additional information, please visit LeesFamousRecipe.com.
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