McDonald’s buys startup to add automated drive-thru ordering

McDonald’s is making a bet it can automate the task of taking drive-thru orders.The world’s biggest restaurant company is buying startup Apprente, a developer of voice-recognition technology for use in the restaurant industry, to help speed up lines. The idea is to eventually have a machine, instead of a person, on the other side of the intercom to relay orders to kitchen staff. In Chicago-area restaurants where the system is already being tested, employees still oversee drive-thru o