(Photo Credit: PublicDomainPictures, Pixabay)Computer scientists in the United Kingdom report that they have developed new intelligent vehicle routing tech that can cut vehicle fleet emissions in half.
Researchers from the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences at Aston University in Birmingham created software that uses a method called route optimization, which is based on how ant colonies share knowledge, solve problems, and gather food. This software can direct vehicle fleets from the same company around a city or town, the scientists said, reducing emissions as well as saving businesses time and fuel costs.
“Algorithms based on the foraging behavior of ants have long been used to solve vehicle routing problems, but now we have found how to scale these up to city-size fleets operating over several weeks in much less time than before,” said lead researcher Darren Chitty. “It means much larger fleet optimization problems can be tackled within reasonable timescales using software a user can put on their laptop.”
The computer scientists say they tested their technology on several Birmingham companies that operate fleets of vehicles. One company operating in the area that performs external maintenance tasks on customers’ properties previously spent significant amounts of time driving around the city, contributing to traffic congestion and higher emission levels, the researchers noted.
Over a six-week period the maintenance company tested the new software with as many as 45 vehicles and 437 customer jobs. “They observed savings of over 50% over the company’s original time spent on the road,” the university researchers concluded. “This enabled the maintenance company to make equivalent savings in their fuel costs, boost profit margins, whilst cutting vehicle emissions in half.”
Covid-19 greatly increased global demand for home deliveries, the scientists pointed out, citing reports that 45% of adults in the UK received more parcel deliveries since the lockdown began in March.
“The ability to optimize routes of fleets of commercial vehicles is significant because it will enable cities and towns to move towards addressing their clean air targets and offer an alternative measure to establishing Clean Air Zones,” according to the university.
Next, the researchers plan to test their platform with different vehicle fleet types including larger vans, heavy goods vehicles (HGVs), and larger sizes of vehicle fleets.
