A vehicle-dispatching system with real-time traffic information based on ant colony optimization

Based on the description of dynamic vehicle routing and scheduling problem (DVRP), a vehicle-dispatching system with variable travel times was designed using advanced information systems of intelligent transportation systems in urban areas. The system consists of offline dispatching module, online dispatching module, information module, data base, forecasted module mainly. In offline dispatching module, the vehicle routing and scheduling model in time dependent networks was described and the improved ant colony optimization (ACO) was used. In online dispatching module, the model of DVRP was established with real-time traffic information. The improved ACO was adopted in the concrete optimization course for solution. The simulation results show that the vehicle-dispatching system with real-time traffic information solves the uncertain problem of travel times. The total costs are decreased by implementing the DVRP model based on variable travel times.