Order Acquisition Under Competitive Pressure: A Rapidly Adaptive Reinforcement Learning Approach for Ride-Hailing Subsidy Strategies

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Shi, Fangzhou, Ke, Xiaopeng, Xiong, Xinye, Meng, Kexin, Men, Chang, Zhu, Zhengdan
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Shi, Fangzhou
Ke, Xiaopeng
Xiong, Xinye
Meng, Kexin
Men, Chang
Zhu, Zhengdan
author_facet Shi, Fangzhou
Ke, Xiaopeng
Xiong, Xinye
Meng, Kexin
Men, Chang
Zhu, Zhengdan
contents The proliferation of ride-hailing aggregator platforms presents significant growth opportunities for ride-service providers by increasing order volume and gross merchandise value (GMV). On most ride-hailing aggregator platforms, service providers that offer lower fares are ranked higher in listings and, consequently, are more likely to be selected by passengers. This competitive ranking mechanism creates a strong incentive for service providers to adopt coupon strategies that lower prices to secure a greater number of orders, as order volume directly influences their long-term viability and sustainability. Thus, designing an effective coupon strategy that can dynamically adapt to market fluctuations while optimizing order acquisition under budget constraints is a critical research challenge. However, existing studies in this area remain scarce. To bridge this gap, we propose FCA-RL, a novel reinforcement learning-based subsidy strategy framework designed to rapidly adapt to competitors' pricing adjustments. Our approach integrates two key techniques: Fast Competition Adaptation (FCA), which enables swift responses to dynamic price changes, and Reinforced Lagrangian Adjustment (RLA), which ensures adherence to budget constraints while optimizing coupon decisions on new price landscape. Furthermore, we introduce RideGym, the first dedicated simulation environment tailored for ride-hailing aggregators, facilitating comprehensive evaluation and benchmarking of different pricing strategies without compromising real-world operational efficiency. Experimental results demonstrate that our proposed method consistently outperforms baseline approaches across diverse market conditions, highlighting its effectiveness in subsidy optimization for ride-hailing service providers.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2507_02244
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Order Acquisition Under Competitive Pressure: A Rapidly Adaptive Reinforcement Learning Approach for Ride-Hailing Subsidy Strategies
Shi, Fangzhou
Ke, Xiaopeng
Xiong, Xinye
Meng, Kexin
Men, Chang
Zhu, Zhengdan
Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence
The proliferation of ride-hailing aggregator platforms presents significant growth opportunities for ride-service providers by increasing order volume and gross merchandise value (GMV). On most ride-hailing aggregator platforms, service providers that offer lower fares are ranked higher in listings and, consequently, are more likely to be selected by passengers. This competitive ranking mechanism creates a strong incentive for service providers to adopt coupon strategies that lower prices to secure a greater number of orders, as order volume directly influences their long-term viability and sustainability. Thus, designing an effective coupon strategy that can dynamically adapt to market fluctuations while optimizing order acquisition under budget constraints is a critical research challenge. However, existing studies in this area remain scarce. To bridge this gap, we propose FCA-RL, a novel reinforcement learning-based subsidy strategy framework designed to rapidly adapt to competitors' pricing adjustments. Our approach integrates two key techniques: Fast Competition Adaptation (FCA), which enables swift responses to dynamic price changes, and Reinforced Lagrangian Adjustment (RLA), which ensures adherence to budget constraints while optimizing coupon decisions on new price landscape. Furthermore, we introduce RideGym, the first dedicated simulation environment tailored for ride-hailing aggregators, facilitating comprehensive evaluation and benchmarking of different pricing strategies without compromising real-world operational efficiency. Experimental results demonstrate that our proposed method consistently outperforms baseline approaches across diverse market conditions, highlighting its effectiveness in subsidy optimization for ride-hailing service providers.
title Order Acquisition Under Competitive Pressure: A Rapidly Adaptive Reinforcement Learning Approach for Ride-Hailing Subsidy Strategies
topic Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.02244