Communication-aware distributed rebalancing for cooperative car-sharing service

This study presents a cooperative car-sharing system in which various service providers jointly operate a sharing service. A distributed algorithm is proposed for rebalancing control to reduce deadhead vehicles as much as possible under the constraints of dispatchable vehicles and parking slots at car stations. Each provider cooperatively searches for the optimal solution by exchanging the estimated values of the optimal dual solutions over the communication networks between providers. Event-driven communication is considered in which information exchange with the neighboring providers is performed only when the amount of change of the estimated optimal dual solution exceeds a threshold. Numerical instances explain that the estimations of all service providers meet the optimal rebalancing solutions.

Automated summary

This study introduces a cooperative car-sharing system where different service providers operate a sharing service together. A distributed algorithm is proposed for rebalancing control to minimize the number of empty vehicles, taking into account dispatchable vehicles and parking availability at car stations. Providers cooperatively search for an optimal solution by sharing estimated values of the optimal dual solutions through communication networks. Event-driven communication is considered, triggering information exchange with neighboring providers only when the change in the estimated optimal dual solution exceeds a threshold. Numerical examples demonstrate that the estimations of all service providers meet the optimal rebalancing solutions.