A GRASP-based heuristic for allocating the roadside infrastructure maximizing the number of distinct vehicles experiencing contact opportunities

In this work the allocation of Roadside Units (RSUs) in a V2I network is modeled as a Maximum Coverage Problem. The main objective is to maximize the number of distinct vehicles contacting the infrastructure. Two different approaches are presented to solve the problem. The first one is an ILP model that can found optimal solutions or give sharp upper and lower bounds for the problem. The second one is a GRASP-based heuristic that can found close-to-optimal solutions. The GRASP-based heuristic is compared with a previous work achieving better results. Furthermore, a new metric to measure the efficiency of a Deployment strategy is presented

Fuelling the zero-emissions road freight of the future: routing of mobile fuellers

The future of zero-emissions road freight is closely tied to the sufficient availability of new and clean fuel options such as electricity and Hydrogen. In goods distribution using Electric Commercial Vehicles (ECVs) and Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles (HFCVs) a major challenge in the transition period would pertain to their limited autonomy and scarce and unevenly distributed refuelling stations. One viable solution to facilitate and speed up the adoption of ECVs/HFCVs by logistics, however, is to get the fuel to the point where it is needed (instead of diverting the route of delivery vehicles to refuelling stations) using "Mobile Fuellers (MFs)". These are mobile battery swapping/recharging vans or mobile Hydrogen fuellers that can travel to a running ECV/HFCV to provide the fuel they require to complete their delivery routes at a rendezvous time and space. In this presentation, new vehicle routing models will be presented for a third party company that provides MF services. In the proposed problem variant, the MF provider company receives routing plans of multiple customer companies and has to design routes for a fleet of capacitated MFs that have to synchronise their routes with the running vehicles to deliver the required amount of fuel on-the-fly. This presentation will discuss and compare several mathematical models based on different business models and collaborative logistics scenarios