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

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Abstract

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.

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Acknowledgments

The first author is supported by MEC Project MTM2013-47093-P. The third author is supported by MEC Project MTM2012-33073. When adapting the paper to the template we missed out the acknowledgements to the research projects that support our research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto Universitario de Matemática Pura y Aplicada (IUMPA), Universitat Politècnica de València, E-46022, Valencia, Spain

    J. Alberto Conejero

  2. Instituto Universitario de Matemática Multidisciplinar (IMM), Universitat Politècnica de València, E-46022, Valencia, Spain

    Cristina Jordán

  3. Departamento de Matemática Aplicada (DMA), Universitat Politècnica de València, E-46022, Valencia, Spain

    Esther Sanabria-Codesal

Authors
  1. J. Alberto Conejero
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  2. Cristina Jordán
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  3. Esther Sanabria-Codesal
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Correspondence to J. Alberto Conejero.

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Conejero, J.A., Jordán, C. & Sanabria-Codesal, E. An algorithm for self-organization of driverless vehicles of a car-rental service. Nonlinear Dyn 84, 107–114 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11071-015-2237-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11071-015-2237-4

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