DeepFreight: A Model-free Deep-reinforcement-learning-based Algorithm for Multi-transfer Freight Delivery

Book One

Volume

Proceedings of the International Conference on Automated Planning and Scheduling, 31

Special Track on Planning and Learning

With the freight delivery demands and shipping costs increasing rapidly, intelligent control of fleets to enable efficient and cost-conscious solutions becomes an important problem. In this paper, we propose DeepFreight, a model-free deep-reinforcement-learning-based algorithm for multi-transfer freight delivery, which includes two closely-collaborative components: truck-dispatch and package-matching. Specifically, a deep multi-agent reinforcement learning framework called QMIX is leveraged to learn a dispatch policy, with which we can obtain the multi-step joint vehicle dispatch decisions for the fleet with respect to the delivery requests. Then an efficient multi-transfer matching algorithm is executed to assign the delivery requests to the trucks. Also, DeepFreight is integrated with a Mixed-Integer Linear Programming optimizer for further optimization. The evaluation results shows that the proposed system is highly scalable and ensures a 100% delivery success while maintaining low delivery-time and fuel consumption.

10.1609/icaps.v31i1.15998