Route Optimisation

Route optimisation solves the vehicle routing problem: given a set of stops, a set of vehicles and a set of constraints, find the assignment and sequence that minimises cost. It is not the same as navigation, which finds the best path between two known points — optimisation decides which stops go on which vehicle and in what order.

The constraints are what make it hard and what make it useful. Delivery time windows, vehicle capacity by weight and volume, driver hours, vehicle-class road restrictions, loading sequence so the first drop is not at the back, and multi-day planning all interact. A solution that ignores any one of them produces a plan the depot cannot execute.

The objective matters as much as the constraints. Optimising for distance produces a different plan from optimising for time, cost or service reliability — and the cheapest plan by distance can be expensive once tolls, gradient-driven fuel burn and driver overtime are counted. Being explicit about what is being minimised is the first decision, not a detail.