SoundHound Acquires Allset to Enhance AI Voice Ordering Experience in Drive-Throughs

SoundHound Acquires Allset to Enhance AI-Powered Food Ordering

AI voice technology company SoundHound has acquired food-ordering platform Allset, which aims to create a comprehensive ecosystem for ordering food via cars, TVs, and smart devices.

As part of the acquisition, Allset’s entire team, including founders Stas Mativiyenko and Anna Polischuk, will join SoundHound. This transition will enable Allset's restaurant partnerships to leverage SoundHound’s advanced AI voice products.

The Move Towards AI in Fast Food

This acquisition comes amidst a broader industry shift, as fast food brands reevaluate their use of customer-facing AI. Recently, McDonald’s announced it paused an AI-driven automated ordering project with IBM due to social media reports of ordering errors. This initiative began in 2021.

SoundHound specializes in voice recognition and generative AI technologies, providing voice assistants for restaurants, automotive systems, and smart home devices. Last year, SoundHound collaborated with White Castle to explore using AI voices for drive-thru orders. Other notable clients include automotive companies Stellantis, Hyundai, Kia, and Honda. Additionally, SoundHound has partnered with AI search platform Perplexity to enhance its AI assistant capabilities. Established in 2015, Allset offers an alternative to traditional delivery apps.

Advancing Voice Ordering Technology

SoundHound's acquisition of Allset enriches its expertise in the food sector and provides advanced technology that enables consumers to order food and other products through natural language interactions.

“Together, we aim to offer dynamic and convenient solutions that allow customers to order food and complete various transactions simply by speaking naturally,” stated Keyvan Mohajer, co-founder and CEO of SoundHound.

Fast food chains have increasingly turned to generative AI to streamline customer orders and enhance service quality. Wendy’s is collaborating with Google on its FreshAI platform, utilizing AI voice recognition and natural language processing to understand customer orders in drive-thrus. Before halting its AI project, McDonald’s executives highlighted their use of AI for predictive analytics and operational insights at last year's media Transform event.