Dynamic Vehicle Routing

Abstract

Vehicle routing is one of the major tasks in the context of transportation. The predominant influences currently inducing a change in transportation operations are outlined in Chap. 1. In particular these influences lead to an increased economic relevance of dynamic vehicle routing. A company whose business requires transportation operations may realize substantial cost reductions by considering vehicle routing problems (VRPs) as dynamic decision problems. The resulting problem class is important and elements of this class can be found in a large variety of economic sectors. Consider the routing of vehicles for the delivery of industrial products or for provision of field service for instance. Alternative examples comprise express courier services, the routing of vehicles within container terminals or taxicab services just to name a few.