Ridepooling with virtual stops

• Applicant: Dr. Arne Schulz
• Subject Area: Operations Management and Computer Science for Business Administration
• Term: since 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 530137180

The project's aim is to develop a decision support system for ridepooling services. Ridepooling services have launched and are currently launching, especially by public companies, in several German cities and regions. Their aims are to complement the public transport system by integrating regions which are not well-connected to the system and shift traffic from private cars to shared emission-free vehicles. To be accepted as a mobility service it is important for ridepooling providers to offer a high level of service, which means that customers have to be transported within a short time between their pickup and delivery locations. On the other side, a ridepooling service can only use its full potential as a sustainable mobility service if customers are transported together. Therefore, the aim of the project is to develop a decision support system to solve the resulting trade-off within the dynamic setting of a ridepooling provider. Thereby, the project focuses on the virtual stops often used in practice. Due to the virtual stops, pickup and delivery locations of all possible requests are known upfront which allows to learn promising trips from past trips and to incorporate them with a high priority in the dynamic optimization.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants