The Dynamic Vehicle Routing Problem: A Comprehensive Survey

The advancement of communication and information technologies has had a significant impact on the logistics industry and has given rise to new challenging transportation requirements. Indeed, the transportation of goods under a dynamic environment involves orders modification or canceling over time. These situations are modeled by the dynamic vehicle routing problem (DVRP), aiming to determine the most optimized routes, by taking into consideration whatever changes occur. Solving DVRP is challenging, as it necessitates efficient adaptation to changes in demand and other factors. This chapter presents a comprehensive overview of the current state of the art in DVRP within the context of supply chain management. To achieve this, we have surveyed 131 articles published from 2017 until the first quarter of 2023. First, we define the problem and describe its main features and challenges. We, also, pointed out the most striking differences between the static and dynamic transportation. Next, we review the main DVRP variants studied in the literature. Then, we highlighted real-world applications in this field. Finally, we discussed future trends and directions in DVRP research.