An algorithm for self-organization of driverless vehicles of a car-rental service

摘要

The solution of fleet assignment problems is one of the core points in the management of a car-rental company. These problems arise from the restrictions imposed by the acceptance of reservations of the customers and from the necessity of an arrangement of the cars at the different depots for attending these bookings. However, with the coming of driverless cars, the rearrangement of vehicles among the depots can be simplified since no staff must be responsible of these tasks. In this note, we show a heuristic algorithm that permits to minimize the number of cars that have to be subcontracted from an external provider in order to attend a list of reservations from customers. Its efficacy is shown in comparison with the solution given by the integer linear programming method. These results can be of interest for other autonomous systems that need to be controlled.