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Online Vehicle Routing Problems: A Survey

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The Vehicle Routing Problem: Latest Advances and New Challenges

Part of the book series: Operations Research/Computer Science Interfaces ((ORCS,volume 43))

Summary

We consider online Vehicle Routing Problems (VRPs). The problems are online because the problem instance is revealed incrementally. After providing motivations for the consideration of such online problems, we first give a detailed summary of the most relevant research in the area of online VRPs. We then consider the online Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) with precedence and capacity constraints and give an online algorithm with a competitive ratio of at most 2. We also consider an online version of the TSP with m salesmen and we give an online algorithm that has a competitive ratio of 2, a result that is best possible. We also study polynomial-time algorithms for these problems. Finally, we introduce the notion of disclosure dates, a form of advanced notice which allows for more realisticcompetitive ratios.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139

    Patrick Jaillet

  2. Department of Management, California State University East Bay, Hayward, CA 94542

    Michael R. Wagner

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  1. Patrick Jaillet
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  2. Michael R. Wagner
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Correspondence to Patrick Jaillet .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA

    Bruce Golden  & S. Raghavan  & 

  2. American University, Washington, DC, USA

    Edward Wasil

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Jaillet, P., Wagner, M.R. (2008). Online Vehicle Routing Problems: A Survey. In: Golden, B., Raghavan, S., Wasil, E. (eds) The Vehicle Routing Problem: Latest Advances and New Challenges. Operations Research/Computer Science Interfaces, vol 43. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-77778-8_10

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