McDonald’s and Google have announced a multi-year global partnership to utilise Google Cloud technology in its restaurants – with a particular focus on generative AI and edge use cases.
The agreement will see updates to various aspects of the McDonald’s restaurant and customer platforms, from the company’s mobile app to self-service kiosks. Edge computing capabilities will be used to gain new insights into how equipment is performing, while on the generative AI side, a dedicated Google Cloud team will work with the McDonald’s global innovation centre to ‘power exciting new experiences for crew and customers.’
The primary product cited on the Google side is Google Distributed Cloud, which enables organisations to extend Google Cloud’s infrastructure and services to the edge and data centres through a portfolio of fully managed hardware and software solutions. Google Distributed Cloud is expected to be deployed to thousands of McDonald’s restaurants so they can leverage both cloud-based software applications as well as on-site local software and AI solutions.
McDonald’s will be the largest global foodservice retailer to use Google Distributed Cloud, with restaurants being upgraded beginning next year. The partnership, according to Google Cloud, will be a ‘significant step for McDonald’s in advancing its restaurant technology platform to become the most sophisticated and productive in the industry.’
“Through this wide-ranging partnership, Google Cloud will help McDonald’s seize on new opportunities to transform its business and customer experiences, empowering restaurants worldwide with the latest technologies for near-term impact,” said Thomas Kurian, Google Cloud CEO in a statement.
The move comes as something of a departure for McDonald’s, with the company previously being associated with Amazon Web Services (AWS) for its global data platform.
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