Patent ID: 11922343
Assignee: WALMART APOLLO, LLC
Field: Computer technology (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC G | IPC G

Claim 0:
1. A system, comprising:
a communications interface configured to communicate, over one or more networks, with a vehicle server, the vehicle server being configured to communicate with a delivery computing device of each of a plurality of vehicles;
a database storing a plurality of persistent delivery snapshots of the plurality of vehicles;
a memory resource storing instructions; and
a processor operatively coupled to the communications interface, the database and memory resource, the processor being configured to execute the instructions to:
receive a request to schedule a delivery for an origination location;
generate an interim delivery snapshot including the delivery at an available time slot of a persistent delivery snapshot of the plurality of persistent delivery snapshots;
determine an overall cost associated with the interim delivery snapshot, based on a plurality of delivery parameters associated with a completion of all delivery orders by a set of vehicles identified in the interim delivery snapshot, wherein
the plurality of delivery parameters includes at least: a total mileage driven by all assigned vehicles during delivery, a degree of lateness during delivery, and

a total vehicle number of the all assigned vehicles,
the total mileage is associated with a first weight,
the degree of lateness is associated with a second weight that is smaller than the first weight, and
the total vehicle number is associated with a third weight that is smaller than the second weight;

compute a plurality of candidate overall costs using a meta-heuristic algorithm based on: the interim delivery snapshot, the plurality of delivery parameters, and the weights associated with the plurality of delivery parameters, wherein each of the plurality of candidate overall costs is associated with a set of candidate delivery routes of the set of vehicles, wherein each of the plurality of candidate overall costs is computed iteratively after re-assigning at least one delivery order from one vehicle to another vehicle among the set of vehicles;
compare the determined overall cost with the plurality of candidate overall costs to determine a minimum overall cost based on the plurality of delivery parameters comprising the total mileage driven by all assigned vehicles during delivery, the degree of lateness during delivery, the total vehicle number of the all assigned vehicles, after the re-assigning, and the associated weights of the plurality of delivery parameters;
based on the minimum overall cost, determine, for each of the set of vehicles, an optimized delivery route, the optimized delivery route being associated with one or more optimized delivery orders of all the delivery orders identified in the interim delivery snapshot that are assigned to a corresponding vehicle of the set of vehicles corresponding to the minimum overall cost;
based at least on the determined optimized delivery route for each of the set of vehicles and the interim delivery snapshot, generate an updated persistent delivery snapshot; and
for each of the set of vehicles, transmit, over the one or more networks, via the vehicle server and to a corresponding delivery computing device, the optimized delivery route.