What is Dynamic Route Planning?

Dynamic route planning, or adaptive routing, is the best path a shipment must follow through the network to reach the specified destination. It is most effective and valuable to carry out successful last-mile operations in food delivery, home service, e-commerce, etc. It adapts to the changing environment and offers the best possible route for shipment, in contrast to traditional route planning. It plays an important role in enhancing the delivery experience and business profitability. 

Dynamic route planning also refers to the ability to include last-minute customer changes without disrupting previously scheduled orders. Its main objective is to ensure orders are delivered using the most effective, optimal, and cost-effective routes. It offers adaptability and scalability that are essential for business growth. It uses complex algorithms and protocols to calculate the optimal route for shipment. It provides flexibility to optimize the routes depending on the new circumstances. 

Examples of Dynamic Route Planning

Dynamic route planning is an effective solution for the logistics industry since it enhances the customer experience, maximizes delivery capacity, and improves shipment productivity while maintaining low operational costs. It calculates the optimal delivery route using complex algorithms and protocols.  

For example, a customer needs product delivery between 3 and 6 p.m., and the destination is 10 km away. In this case, dynamic routing algorithms input all these requirements, do the processing, and provide the optimal route to drivers. It considers factors like traffic jams, driver’s breaks, roadblocks, weather conditions, and last-minute delivery while calculating the delivery route. 

Benefits of Dynamic Route Planning

Dynamic route planning reduces the turnaround time while enhancing the customer experience. It uses advanced algorithms to compute the delivery route that increases on-road efficiency and handles last-minute customer changes. Some of its advantages are:

  • Cost Reduction: It can accommodate any last-minute requests, which helps to avoid using additional resources and reduce delivery costs. Its main objective is to provide the most optimal route that reduces fuel consumption and assures safe delivery.  
  • Improve Drivers’ Productivity: Dynamic route planning provides the shortest possible delivery route to the drivers to complete the maximum possible daily trips, improving their productivity and efficiency.  
  • Time-Saving: It generates a dynamic delivery route using complex algorithms and protocols, which saves time and increases delivery efficiency and driver productivity. 
  • Reduce Fuel Consumption: It considers factors like traffic jams, driver’s breaks, roadblocks, weather conditions, and last-minute delivery while computing the optimal delivery route, which helps reduce fuel consumption. 
  • Accurate ETAs: Dynamic routing algorithms use real-time information to compute the optimal delivery route, thus providing precise ETAs to consumers. It also sends delivery updates to the customers. 
  • Prevents Idling of Engine: If unexpected or unpredicted events occur, it immediately generates the new optimal delivery routes. It can accommodate new deliveries, help avoid traffic congestion, and prevent engine idling.
  • Intelligent Resource Utilization: It uses an advanced algorithm that utilizes a vehicle’s capacity and generates more efficient delivery routes, which saves both time and money. It is widely known for its intelligent resource utilization. 
  • Contributes to reducing CO2 emissions: Dynamic route planning contributes to reducing carbon emissions by providing an optimal delivery route.  
  • Increases Business Profitability: It is crucial in increasing business productivity and profitability by improving customer experience, intelligent resource utilization, computing accurate ETAs, preventing engine idling, and saving time and money.

Limitations of Dynamic Route Planning

Some significant limitations of Dynamic route planning are:

  • Resources: This process requires additional resources like CPU, RAM, link bandwidth, etc, to compute the dynamic routes and perform other functions.
  • Costly: The software and algorithms for computing dynamic delivery routes are expensive but more reliable than free planning software. Hence, the companies must spend more money competing with well-established firms. 
  • Security: It poses a network security risk because of multicasting and broadcasting updates. Additional configuration settings are required to maintain secure dynamic routes, like protocol authentication and passive interface.
  • Bandwidth Shortage: The dynamic routers communicate with each other constantly to share network information; this process consumes extra bandwidth. Any shortage in bandwidth can impact the dynamic routing algorithm’s performance. 
  • Complexity: The process of computing the optimal delivery route is very complex. It uses complex and advanced algorithms and protocols to calculate dynamic routes.

Dynamic route planning is crucial for the smooth flow of the supply chain and satisfying customer demands. It maintains communication among the different actors involved in the supply chain and increases efficiency, service quality, and the company’s profitability. It is an effective solution for the logistics industry since it enhances the customer experience, maximizes delivery capacity, and improves shipment productivity while maintaining low operating costs. It also considers factors like traffic jams, driver’s breaks, roadblocks, weather conditions, and last-minute delivery while computing the optimal delivery route. 

Explore NextBillion.ai’s Route Optimization API to learn more about dynamic route planning parameters.