Learning for routing: A guided review of recent developments and future directions

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Zhou, Fangting, Lischka, Attila, Kulcsar, Balazs, Wu, Jiaming, Chehreghani, Morteza Haghir, Laporte, Gilbert
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2025
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author Zhou, Fangting
Lischka, Attila
Kulcsar, Balazs
Wu, Jiaming
Chehreghani, Morteza Haghir
Laporte, Gilbert
author_facet Zhou, Fangting
Lischka, Attila
Kulcsar, Balazs
Wu, Jiaming
Chehreghani, Morteza Haghir
Laporte, Gilbert
contents This paper reviews the current progress in applying machine learning (ML) tools to solve NP-hard combinatorial optimization problems, with a focus on routing problems such as the traveling salesman problem (TSP) and the vehicle routing problem (VRP). Due to the inherent complexity of these problems, exact algorithms often require excessive computational time to find optimal solutions, while heuristics can only provide approximate solutions without guaranteeing optimality. With the recent success of machine learning models, there is a growing trend in proposing and implementing diverse ML techniques to enhance the resolution of these challenging routing problems. We propose a taxonomy categorizing ML-based routing methods into construction-based and improvement-based approaches, highlighting their applicability to various problem characteristics. This review aims to integrate traditional OR methods with state-of-the-art ML techniques, providing a structured framework to guide future research and address emerging VRP variants.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2507_00218
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Learning for routing: A guided review of recent developments and future directions
Zhou, Fangting
Lischka, Attila
Kulcsar, Balazs
Wu, Jiaming
Chehreghani, Morteza Haghir
Laporte, Gilbert
Artificial Intelligence
Optimization and Control
This paper reviews the current progress in applying machine learning (ML) tools to solve NP-hard combinatorial optimization problems, with a focus on routing problems such as the traveling salesman problem (TSP) and the vehicle routing problem (VRP). Due to the inherent complexity of these problems, exact algorithms often require excessive computational time to find optimal solutions, while heuristics can only provide approximate solutions without guaranteeing optimality. With the recent success of machine learning models, there is a growing trend in proposing and implementing diverse ML techniques to enhance the resolution of these challenging routing problems. We propose a taxonomy categorizing ML-based routing methods into construction-based and improvement-based approaches, highlighting their applicability to various problem characteristics. This review aims to integrate traditional OR methods with state-of-the-art ML techniques, providing a structured framework to guide future research and address emerging VRP variants.
title Learning for routing: A guided review of recent developments and future directions
topic Artificial Intelligence
Optimization and Control
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.00218