Building on our earlier work, we further expand the classic static dial a ride problem to model platooning between demand-responsive modular vehicles in serving customers. We invented an efficient heuristic and showed using a network of Anaheim CA how platooning can help reduce vehicle travel cost and passenger service time. Statistical tests with computational data suggest such operations and technology benefiting most from serving “enclaves” of passengers. This work should be of interest to microtransit/ridepooling or delivery operators considering more flexible vehicular technologies.

The research was funded by NSF CMMI-2022967 and USDOT #69A3551747124 via the C2SMART Center. It was also presented at the 15th International Conference on Advanced Systems in Public Transport at Tel Aviv in 2022.

Paper link: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0968090X23001808