At NextBillion.ai, route optimization is our bread and butter — and we’re good at it. How good? Let us show you. We recently received the results of a benchmarking test that pit NextBillion.ai’s Route Optimization API against that of a major competitor. Arguably the biggest player in the market. You’ve definitely heard of them. If you’re evaluating routing solutions for your fleet, you’ve almost certainly considered them. We beat them. Decisively. The benchmarking was run and verified by multiple prospective customers. First, let’s understand how it was done.
The Benchmarking Conditions
The route optimization algorithms were tested in three separate scenarios of mock last-mile delivery jobs and vehicles generated for the city of Los Angeles. Each scenario had four variables:
Vehicles Available – The number of fleet vehicles available to solve the routing problem
No. of Jobs – The total number of jobs or deliveries to be completed; this is synonymous with the l number of locations to be visited
No. of Packages – The total number of packages to be delivered; this is where vehicle capacity comes into play
Max. Capacity per Vehicle – The maximum number of packages each vehicle is permitted to carry
The solutions would be evaluated on the basis of three key performance metrics:
Vehicles Utilized – The number of vehicles utilized in the output route. Fewer vehicles utilized translates to less activation cost.
Total Distance Traveled – The cumulative distance covered by all utilized vehicles, in meters. Less distance means less vehicle wear and tear and lower fuel consumption.
Total Duration – The total time taken to complete the assigned jobs, in hours. Faster completion results in lower labor costs and happier customers.
Behind NextBillion.ai’s Superior Performance
Such ineffective route optimization can have serious implications for organizations that use the competitor’s solution to optimize their business operations. Extra miles driven would negatively impact their operational efficiency, operating margins, eco-friendly initiatives, vehicle condition, customer satisfaction, driver sentiment and so much more. It’s a costly proposition in many ways — and that’s before even taking the cost of the solution itself into consideration!
That’s not all, though. Arguably the biggest differentiator of NextBillion.ai’s routing solution is the level of flexibility made possible through the variety of routing constraints available.
With over 50 constraints to choose from, our customers can configure the routing algorithm to account for their unique operational requirements, such as custom road restrictions and closures, turn permissions, speed limits, time-based restrictions, equal task distribution and more.
Some other features and constraints that set us apart from the competition include truck-specific routing that accounts for truck type, dimensions and weight; re-optimization for on-the-fly routing changes; custom cost matrices to keep travel costs in check and relations to specify associations between different tasks.
As we’ve seen, NextBillion.ai’s Route Optimization API brings a lot of value to the table. Value that cannot be found elsewhere. If you’re looking for a high-performance, cost-effective, customizable routing solution, your search ends here. Find out firsthand how NextBillion.ai can transform your business — see our Route Optimization API in action.
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