A Hybrid Genetic Algorithm for Vehicle Routing Problem with Complex Constraints

Most research on the Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP) is focused on standard conditions, which is not suitable for specific cases. A Hybrid Genetic Algorithm is proposed to solve a Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP) with complex side constraints. A novel coding method is designed especially for side constraints. A greedy algorithm combined with a random algorithm is introduced to enable the diversity of the initial population, as well as a local optimization algorithm employed to improve the searching efficiency. In order to evaluate the performance, this mechanism has been implemented in an oil distribution center, the experimental and executing results show that the near global optimal solution can be easily and quickly obtained by this method, and the solution is definitely satisfactory in the VRP application.