Cloud Fleet Routing solves vehicle routing problems (VRPs): given a set of vehicles and locations, find the optimal routes so that a vehicle visits each location. To solve a VRP, you send Cloud Fleet Routing an API request containing the locations, the vehicles' starting points, travel costs, and constraints for the problem. Cloud Fleet Routing returns vehicle routes with the least total cost.
Cloud Fleet Routing enables you to define a VRP in detail. For example, you can specify the total cost of a solution based on various factors, such as:
- The total distance the vehicles travel
- The overall duration of the vehicle routes
- Fixed costs imposed for vehicles if they are used
You can also define constraints on the vehicles and visits to locations, including:
- Capacity constraints: the maximum number of passengers for a ride-sharing vehicle, or the maximum weight for a package delivery truck.
- Time windows: each location must be visited within a specified time window—for example, when a customer is available to receive a delivery.
- Vehicle start and end locations, and the corresponding time windows.
To use Cloud Fleet Routing, you first need to enable the API in a Google Cloud project. After that, you can take a look at a simple VRP example.