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Empty-Car Routing in Ridesharing Systems

Author

Listed:
  • Anton Braverman

    (Kellogg School of Management, Kellogg Global Hub, 2211 Campus Drive, Evanston, Illinois 60208)

  • J. G. Dai

    (School of Operations Research and Information Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853; Institute for Data and Decision Analytics (iDDA) and Shenzhen Research Institute of Big Data, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, 518172 China)

  • Xin Liu

    (School of Electrical, Computer, and Energy Engineering, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85281)

  • Lei Ying

    (School of Electrical, Computer, and Energy Engineering, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85281)

Abstract

This paper considers a closed queueing network model of ridesharing systems, such as Didi Chuxing, Lyft, and Uber. We focus on empty-car routing, a mechanism by which we control car flow in the network to optimize system-wide utility functions, for example, the availability of empty cars when a passenger arrives. We establish both process-level and steady-state convergence of the queueing network to a fluid limit in a large market regime where demand for rides and supply of cars tend to infinity and use this limit to study a fluid-based optimization problem. We prove that the optimal network utility obtained from the fluid-based optimization is an upper bound on the utility in the finite car system for any routing policy, both static and dynamic, under which the closed queueing network has a stationary distribution. This upper bound is achieved asymptotically under the fluid-based optimal routing policy. Simulation results with real-world data released by Didi Chuxing demonstrate the benefit of using the fluid-based optimal routing policy compared with various other policies.

Suggested Citation

  • Anton Braverman & J. G. Dai & Xin Liu & Lei Ying, 2019. "Empty-Car Routing in Ridesharing Systems," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 67(5), pages 1437-1452, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:oropre:v:67:y:2019:i:5:p:1437-1452
    DOI: opre.2018.1822
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ariel Waserhole & Vincent Jost, 2016. "Pricing in vehicle sharing systems: optimization in queuing networks with product forms," EURO Journal on Transportation and Logistics, Springer;EURO - The Association of European Operational Research Societies, vol. 5(3), pages 293-320, August.
    2. Bimpikis, Kostas & Candogan, Ozan & Saban, Daniela, 2016. "Spatial Pricing in Ride-Sharing Networks," Research Papers 3482, Stanford University, Graduate School of Business.
    3. Daniel Adelman, 2007. "Price-Directed Control of a Closed Logistics Queueing Network," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 55(6), pages 1022-1038, December.
    4. George, David K. & Xia, Cathy H., 2011. "Fleet-sizing and service availability for a vehicle rental system via closed queueing networks," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 211(1), pages 198-207, May.
    5. Jonatha Anselmi & Bernardo D'Auria & Neil Walton, 2013. "Closed Queueing Networks Under Congestion: Nonbottleneck Independence and Bottleneck Convergence," Mathematics of Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 38(3), pages 469-491, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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