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A Fast and Scalable Heuristic for the Solution of Large-Scale Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problems

Author

Listed:
  • Luca Accorsi

    (Department of Electrical, Electronic and Information Engineering “G. Marconi”, University of Bologna, Bologna 40136, Italy)

  • Daniele Vigo

    (Department of Electrical, Electronic and Information Engineering “G. Marconi”, University of Bologna, Bologna 40136, Italy; Interdepartmental Center for Industrial Research on Information and Communication Technologies, University of Bologna, Cesena 47521, Italy)

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a fast and scalable, yet effective, metaheuristic called FILO to solve large-scale instances of the Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem. Our approach consists of a main iterative part, based on the Iterated Local Search paradigm, which employs a carefully designed combination of existing acceleration techniques, as well as novel strategies to keep the optimization localized, controlled, and tailored to the current instance and solution. A Simulated Annealing-based neighbor acceptance criterion is used to obtain a continuous diversification, to ensure the exploration of different regions of the search space. Results on extensively studied benchmark instances from the literature, supported by a thorough analysis of the algorithm’s main components, show the effectiveness of the proposed design choices, making FILO highly competitive with existing state-of-the-art algorithms, both in terms of computing time and solution quality. Finally, guidelines for possible efficient implementations, algorithm source code, and a library of reusable components are open-sourced to allow reproduction of our results and promote further investigations.

Suggested Citation

  • Luca Accorsi & Daniele Vigo, 2021. "A Fast and Scalable Heuristic for the Solution of Large-Scale Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problems," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 55(4), pages 832-856, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ortrsc:v:55:y:2021:i:4:p:832-856
    DOI: 10.1287/trsc.2021.1059
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