Re:App-Powered Car Service Leaves Cabs in the Dust
by 9999 on Tuesday April 05, 2011 @02:55PM
(#2412226)
I don't understand why they're bringing the traveling salesman problem into this at all. The core problem Uber has to solve is simply to get one driver (of many) to the customer as fast as possible, not to determine the most efficient route between all of the customers.
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Re:App-Powered Car Service Leaves Cabs in the Dust
by kragen on Tuesday April 05, 2011 @03:08PM
(#2412278)
It's not that simple. They need to figure out which assignment of drivers to customers maximizes some utility function. If they just send the closest available driver, that may degrade service for some other customer, or leave an important area of the city uncovered for the next unexpected call.
It's not the same problem as TSP, but it's surely reducible to it, given the NP-completeness proof.