What the study found
The study found that an air-ground collaborative delivery system using electric ground vehicles and drones can better meet delivery time windows than vehicle-only delivery. It also reports a 1.2% reduction in total cost in the tested Shenzhen scenario.
Why the authors say this matters
The authors conclude that the findings demonstrate economic and environmental benefits of air-ground collaboration for urban logistics. They also say the results offer practical insights for implementing the proposed system.
What the researchers tested
The researchers studied an Electric Vehicle and Drone Routing Problem with soft time windows, where deliveries may arrive early or late with penalties. The system used multiple electric unmanned ground vehicles that could deploy a drone at one node and retrieve it at another, and the objective was to minimize travel cost, vehicle activation fees, and time-window penalties.
What worked and what didn't
A two-level Hybrid Genetic Algorithm with Dynamic Iteration found optimal solutions on small instances more than thirty times faster than Gurobi. The collaborative system with electric ground vehicles and drones outperformed vehicle-only delivery on time-window performance and reduced total cost by 1.2% in the evaluated scenario.
What to keep in mind
The abstract reports evaluation in a real-world scenario in Shenzhen, China, but does not provide broader testing details here. Sensitivity analyses showed the total cost was most sensitive to relative per-kilometer travel cost, then time-window penalty rates and drone endurance.
Key points
- The study examined parcel delivery routing with electric ground vehicles and drones under soft time windows.
- The collaborative system was reported to meet time windows better than vehicle-only delivery.
- Total cost was reduced by 1.2% in the Shenzhen case study.
- The proposed algorithm found optimal small-instance solutions more than 30 times faster than Gurobi.
- Cost sensitivity was strongest for relative travel cost, then time-window penalties and drone endurance.
Disclosure
- Research title:
- Air-ground delivery routing reduced cost and improved time-window performance
- Authors:
- Rongfei Du, W. D. Sun, Fangni Zhang, Jinping Guan
- Institutions:
- Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Shenzhen Institute of Information Technology, Shenzhen Institute of Information Technology, University of Hong Kong, University of Hong Kong, University of Hong Kong
- Publication date:
- 2026-03-03
- OpenAlex record:
- View
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