VEHICLE FLEET CONTROL SYSTEMS AND METHODS

• US 20160300186A1
• Filed: 06/16/2016
• Published: 10/13/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 02/18/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ryder Integrated Logistics Incorporated (Ryder System Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Ryder Integrated Logistics Incorporated (Ryder System Incorporated)
• Inventors: DUPRE, Michael Alan, TAYLOR, William Landon, SHOWELL, Donald William, SCHARASWAK, Christopher Lee
• Granted Patent: US 11,107,031 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0835 Relationships between shipper or supplier and carriers
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/40 Business processes related to the transportation industry shipping G06Q10/083

Abstract

Systems and methods for control of a vehicle fleet system are provided. The vehicle fleet system may include a dedicated carrier fleet having dedicated carrier vehicles operated by a dedicated fleet control system. The dedicated fleet control system may be in communication with a common carrier control system of a common carrier fleet and may operate to assign various shipments among the dedicated carrier vehicles and the common carrier fleet. In particular, the dedicated fleet control system may selectively assign the one or more shipments to the dedicated fleet or the common carrier fleet based on dedicated carrier constraints and common carrier constraints. The selective assignment may be based, in part, on a cost model that includes or excludes fixed costs for the dedicated carrier fleet.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

identifying, by a dedicated fleet control server operated by a dedicated carrier, one or more shipments for assignment to a common carrier fleet or a dedicated carrier fleet;

receiving, by the dedicated fleet control server from a common carrier fleet server, a plurality of common carrier constraints including an indication of at least one available common carrier vehicle for one or more predetermined windows of time, and costs for shipping the one or more shipments with the at least one available common carrier vehicle along one or more routes during the one or more predetermined windows of time;

receiving, by the dedicated fleet control server, vehicle status information from communications circuitry disposed in one or more vehicles of the dedicated carrier fleet;

determining, by the dedicated fleet control server in real time while receiving the vehicle status information, one or more dedicated carrier constraints for the one or more predetermined windows of time based on the received vehicle status information; and

selectively assigning, by the dedicated fleet control server, the one or more shipments to the dedicated carrier fleet or the common carrier fleet based on the determined one or more dedicated carrier constraints and the received plurality of common carrier constraints.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the one or more dedicated carrier constraints comprises:

receiving a real-time current working hours total for a driver of the one or more vehicles of the dedicated carrier fleet;

determining, based on the real-time current working hours total and a working hours limit, a remaining available hours total for the driver; and

generating at least one of the one or more dedicated carrier constraints based on the determined remaining available hours total, such that the at least one of the one or more dedicated carrier constraints prevents assignment of any of the one or more shipments to the driver, within the one or more predetermined windows of time, that would cause the driver to work beyond the remaining available hours total.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein selectively assigning the one or more shipments includes assigning, to another driver of the dedicated carrier fleet or to the common carrier fleet, any of the one or more shipments that would cause the driver to work beyond the remaining available hours total.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the vehicle status information for a particular dedicated fleet vehicle comprises a maintenance notice for that vehicle during one of the one or more predetermined windows of time, and wherein selectively assigning the one or more shipments comprises preventing assignment of shipments to that vehicle during the one of the one or more predetermined windows of time until the maintenance notice has been cleared.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the vehicle status information for each vehicle of the dedicated carrier fleet includes a real-time available driving hours value for a driver of that vehicle within the one or more predetermined windows of time, and wherein selectively assigning the one or more shipments comprises selecting only dedicated vehicle fleet drivers with real-time available driving hours values that satisfy a predetermined threshold.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a shipment plan based on the selective assignment;

providing at least a portion of the shipment plan to the common carrier fleet server for distribution of a first portion of the one or more shipments to the common carrier fleet; and

providing assignments from a second portion of the shipping plan to the communications circuitry disposed in at least some of the vehicles of the dedicated carrier fleet, the second portion of the shipping plan including assignments for a second portion of the one or more shipments.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein providing the assignments to the communications circuitry disposed in at least some of the vehicles of the dedicated carrier fleet comprises pushing a travel route with shipping pickup and delivery instructions from the dedicated fleet control server to each vehicle of the at least some of the vehicles of the dedicated carrier fleet.

8. A system, comprising:

a dedicated carrier fleet comprising a first plurality of vehicles; and

a dedicated fleet control system communicatively coupled to each of the first plurality of vehicles and in communication with at least one common carrier control system, wherein the dedicated fleet control system is configured to;

receive real-time vehicle and driver status information from communications circuitry for each of the first plurality of vehicles;

receive real-time availability information for a second plurality of vehicles operated by a common carrier from the common carrier control system for one or more windows of time;

determine a plurality of dedicated carrier constraints based, at least in part, on the real-time vehicle and driver status information; and

distribute a plurality of shipments among the first plurality of vehicles and the second plurality of vehicles for transportation of the plurality of shipments from respective pickup locations to respective delivery locations within the one or more windows of time based on a determination of routes for the first plurality of vehicles made in real time with a concurrent minimization of an overall cost of a resulting distribution using the received real-time availability information and the plurality of dedicated carrier constraints.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the concurrent minimization of the overall cost of the resulting distribution comprises a first cost minimization based on a cost model that excludes fixed costs for the first plurality of vehicles.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the first cost minimization comprises a minimization of a sum, the sum being a sum of a selection factor multiplied by a travel cost, for travel between each pickup location and each delivery location, for each of the first plurality of vehicles and each of the second plurality of vehicles.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the plurality of dedicated carrier constraints comprise a time window constraint that ensures each of the plurality of shipments is picked up from its pickup location and delivered to its delivery location within the one or more windows of time, and wherein at least one of the one or more windows of time comprises a maximum allowable time difference between a pickup time and a delivery time.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the time window constraint comprises a flexibility factor applied to the maximum allowable time difference between the pickup time and the delivery time and wherein the flexibility factor comprises a user-specified variability in the maximum allowable time difference that facilitates a reduction in size for the dedicated carrier fleet.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the plurality of dedicated carrier constraints include an empty-miles constraint and a less-than-full-miles constraint that, in combination, reduce a number of determined routes that include portions in which any vehicle of the dedicated carrier fleet travels with less than a full load such that miles travelled less than full for each of the first plurality of vehicles satisfies a predetermined threshold.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein the vehicle and driver status information identifies respective home depots for the first plurality of vehicles, and wherein the plurality of dedicated carrier constraints comprise a constraint that the first plurality of vehicles depart from and return to the respective home depots each day.

15. The system of claim 8, wherein the dedicated carrier constraints comprise a backhaul probability constraint that modifies the resulting distribution such that a number of empty return routes for the first plurality of vehicles satisfies a predetermined threshold.

16. The system of claim 8, wherein the vehicle and driver status information for each vehicle and driver includes a current available driving hours value for a driver of that vehicle and driver, and wherein the dedicated fleet control system is configured to prevent distribution of any of the plurality of shipments to dedicated vehicle fleet drivers with current available driving hours values that do not satisfy a predetermined threshold.

17. A method, comprising:

distributing, using a dedicated fleet server, a plurality of loads among a dedicated carrier fleet and a common carrier vehicle fleet, for delivery of the plurality of loads from respective pickup locations to respective delivery locations, based on a determination of routes for one or more first vehicles of the dedicated carrier fleet and a minimization, simultaneous with the determination of routes, of an overall cost of the resulting distribution based on dedicated carrier constraints, common carrier constraints for one or more second vehicles of the common carrier vehicle fleet, and a cost model that excludes fixed costs for the dedicated carrier fleet,

wherein at least one of the dedicated carrier constraints is determined in real time during the distributing of the plurality of loads, based on vehicle status information received by the dedicated fleet server from communications circuitry disposed in at least one vehicle of the dedicated carrier fleet,

wherein the dedicated carrier constraints comprise a constraint that each of the plurality of loads be picked up from a corresponding pickup location for that load and delivered to a corresponding delivery location for that load within a window of time, and

wherein the common carrier constraints comprise an indication of a number of available common carrier vehicles and common carrier costs for the window of time and one or more routes associated with at least one of the plurality of loads.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the distributing comprises distributing the plurality of loads over a period of time that includes the window of time, and wherein the method further comprises:

determining, after the period of time, a maximum number of dedicated carrier vehicles operated on any one day within the period of time;

determining whether a total number of vehicles in the dedicated carrier fleet is greater than the determined maximum number of dedicated carrier vehicles operated; and

reducing the total number of vehicles in the dedicated carrier fleet to the determined maximum number if the total number of vehicles in the dedicated carrier fleet is greater than the determined maximum number of dedicated carrier vehicles operated.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein reducing the total number of vehicles in the dedicated carrier fleet comprises moving at least one of the vehicles in the dedicated carrier fleet to a different dedicated carrier fleet operated by the same dedicated fleet server, and wherein the minimization based on the cost model that excludes fixed costs for the dedicated carrier fleet comprises a minimization of a sum of a selection factor multiplied by a travel cost for each vehicle of the dedicated carrier fleet and each vehicle of the common carrier vehicle fleet for travel between each pickup location and each delivery location.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

receiving the vehicle status information from the communications circuitry disposed within the at least one vehicle of the dedicated carrier fleet, the vehicle status information including at least an identifier of a home depot for the at least one vehicle of the dedicated carrier fleet; and

generating a dedicated carrier constraint that ensures that the at least one vehicle depart from and return to the home depot associated with the identifier each day.