A solution of vehicle routing problems in a multiple objective environment

Abstract This research is concerned with the most satisfactory or favorable vehicle routes of multicriteria Vehicle Routing Problems (VRPs). The specific model considered consists of three relevant objectives which are, more often than not, conflicting. These are the maximization of the travel distance of vehicles, the minimization of the total fulfillment of emergent services, and conditional dependencies of stations. A heuristic algorithm is developed to determine the most satisfactory vehicle routes of multicriteria VRPs where the three objectives are to be achieved. Computational experiments are performed on the test problems incorporating multiple objectives, in order to evaluate and justify the proposed algorithm. An interactive procedure is developed that implements the proposed algorithm and relies on the progressive definition of a decision-maker's preferences, along with the exploration of the criterion space, in order to reach the most favorable vehicle routes of multi-criteria VRPs.