Genetic programming for vehicle dispatching

Vehicle dispatching is aimed at allocating real time service requests to a fleet of vehicles in movement. This task is modeled as a multiattribute choice problem. Namely, different attribute values are associated with each vehicle to describe its situation with respect to the current service request. Based on this attribute description, a utility function that approximates the decision process of a professional dispatcher is computed. This utility function evolves through genetic programming. Computational results are reported on requests collected from a courier service company.