Drone routing problem model for last-mile delivery using the public transportation capacity as moving charging stations

Abstract

The fast and cost-efficient delivery of goods ordered online is logistically a challenging problem. Many firms are looking for ways to cut delivery times and costs by exploring opportunities to take advantage of drone technology. Deploying drones as a promising technology is more efficient from both environmental and economic perspectives in last-mile delivery. This paper considers a last-mile delivery system in which a set of drones are operated in coordination with public transportation system to deliver a set of orders to customer locations. A mathematical model based on Vehicle routing Problem (VRP) is extended to solve this problem. A real-world case inspired by Bremen 2025 transportation paradigm is also developed to validate the developed mathematical formulation. Results show that the sequence of visiting customers and public transport stations highly impacts the remaining charge and efficiency of drone tour planning. Also, using public transport vehicles, which enables drones to charge their battery or to approach customers, can reduce the number of drones required for satisfying the demands in a service area. The results show that there are high potentials to save energy for drone-enabled last-mile delivery by using the public transportation network.