QUEST: QUantum-Enhanced Shared Transportation

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Onah, Chinonso, Miscasci, Neel, Othmer, Carsten, Michielsen, Kristel
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Onah, Chinonso
Miscasci, Neel
Othmer, Carsten
Michielsen, Kristel
author_facet Onah, Chinonso
Miscasci, Neel
Othmer, Carsten
Michielsen, Kristel
contents We introduce ``Windbreaking-as-a-Service'' (WaaS) as an innovative approach to shared transportation in which larger ``windbreaker'' vehicles provide aerodynamic shelter for ``windsurfer'' vehicles, thereby reducing drag and fuel consumption. As a computational framework to solve the large-scale matching and assignment problems that arise in WaaS, we present \textbf{QUEST} (Quantum-Enhanced Shared Transportation). Specifically, we formulate the pairing of windbreakers and windsurfers -- subject to timing, speed, and vehicle-class constraints -- as a mixed-integer quadratic problem (MIQP). Focusing on a single-segment prototype, we verify the solution classically via the Hungarian Algorithm, a Gurobi-based solver, and brute-force enumeration of binary vectors. We then encode the problem as a Quadratic Unconstrained Binary Optimization (QUBO) and map it to an Ising Hamiltonian, enabling the use of the Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm (QAOA) and other quantum and classical annealing technologies. Our quantum implementation successfully recovers the optimal assignment identified by the classical methods, confirming the soundness of the QUEST pipeline for a controlled prototype. While QAOA and other quantum heuristics do not guarantee a resolution of the fundamental complexity barriers, this study illustrates how the WaaS problem can be systematically translated into a quantum-ready model. It also lays the groundwork for addressing multi-segment scenarios and potentially leveraging quantum advantage for large-scale shared-transportation instances.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2505_08074
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle QUEST: QUantum-Enhanced Shared Transportation
Onah, Chinonso
Miscasci, Neel
Othmer, Carsten
Michielsen, Kristel
Quantum Physics
Computational Engineering, Finance, and Science
Discrete Mathematics
Applied Physics
Computational Physics
We introduce ``Windbreaking-as-a-Service'' (WaaS) as an innovative approach to shared transportation in which larger ``windbreaker'' vehicles provide aerodynamic shelter for ``windsurfer'' vehicles, thereby reducing drag and fuel consumption. As a computational framework to solve the large-scale matching and assignment problems that arise in WaaS, we present \textbf{QUEST} (Quantum-Enhanced Shared Transportation). Specifically, we formulate the pairing of windbreakers and windsurfers -- subject to timing, speed, and vehicle-class constraints -- as a mixed-integer quadratic problem (MIQP). Focusing on a single-segment prototype, we verify the solution classically via the Hungarian Algorithm, a Gurobi-based solver, and brute-force enumeration of binary vectors. We then encode the problem as a Quadratic Unconstrained Binary Optimization (QUBO) and map it to an Ising Hamiltonian, enabling the use of the Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm (QAOA) and other quantum and classical annealing technologies. Our quantum implementation successfully recovers the optimal assignment identified by the classical methods, confirming the soundness of the QUEST pipeline for a controlled prototype. While QAOA and other quantum heuristics do not guarantee a resolution of the fundamental complexity barriers, this study illustrates how the WaaS problem can be systematically translated into a quantum-ready model. It also lays the groundwork for addressing multi-segment scenarios and potentially leveraging quantum advantage for large-scale shared-transportation instances.
title QUEST: QUantum-Enhanced Shared Transportation
topic Quantum Physics
Computational Engineering, Finance, and Science
Discrete Mathematics
Applied Physics
Computational Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.08074