The vehicle routing problem: A taxonomic review

Abstract

This paper presents a methodology for classifying the literature of the Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP). VRP as a field of study and practice is defined quite broadly. It is considered to encompass all of the managerial, physical, geographical, and informational considerations as well as the theoretic disciplines impacting this ever emerging-field. Over its lifespan the VRP literature has become quite disjointed and disparate. Keeping track of its development has become difficult because its subject matter transcends several academic disciplines and professions that range from algorithm design to traffic management. Consequently, this paper defines VRP’s domain in its entirety, accomplishes an all-encompassing taxonomy for the VRP literature, and delineates all of VRP’s facets in a parsimonious and discriminating manner. Sample articles chosen for their disparity are classified to illustrate the descriptive power and parsimony of the taxonomy. Moreover, all previously published VRP taxonomies are shown to be relatively myopic; that is, they are subsumed by what is herein presented. Because the VRP literature encompasses esoteric and highly theoretical articles at one extremum and descriptions of actual applications at the other, the article sampling includes the entire range of the VRP literature.