# A concise guide to existing and emerging vehicle routing problem variants

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/1906.06750 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/1906.06750/

## Key facts

- Cited by 17 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 16 Jun 2019.

## Built on by (most cited first, 17 of 17)

- [Multi-Task Learning for Routing Problem with Cross-Problem Zero-Shot Generalization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.16891/) (2024)
- [Analytics and Machine Learning in Vehicle Routing Research](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2102.10012/) (2021)
- [An Overview and Experimental Study of Learning-based Optimization Algorithms for Vehicle Routing Problem](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2107.07076/) (2021)
- [Learning-based Online Optimization for Autonomous Mobility-on-Demand Fleet Control](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.03963/) (2023)
- [BOPO: Neural Combinatorial Optimization via Best-anchored and Objective-guided Preference Optimization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.07580/) (2025)
- [Combinatorial Optimization enriched Machine Learning to solve the Dynamic Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.00789/) (2023)
- [Neural Networks for Local Search and Crossover in Vehicle Routing: A Possible Overkill?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.12075/) (2022)
- [Spatial-temporal-demand clustering for solving large-scale vehicle routing problems with time windows](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.00041/) (2024)
- [Chain-of-Context Learning: Dynamic Constraint Understanding for Multi-Task VRPs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.01667/) (2026)
- [Learning to Deliver: a Foundation Model for the Montreal Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.00026/) (2024)
- [End-to-end Deep Reinforcement Learning for Stochastic Multi-objective Optimization in C-VRPTW](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2512.01518/) (2025)
- [Vision-Assisted Foundation Model for Solving Multi-Task Vehicle Routing Problems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.10431/) (2026)
- [Towards Practical Multi-Robot Hybrid Tasks Allocation for Autonomous Cleaning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.06531/) (2023)
- [Instance space analysis of the capacitated vehicle routing problem](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.10397/) (2025)
- [POMO+: Leveraging starting nodes in POMO for solving Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.08493/) (2025)
- [A Branch-and-Price Algorithm for Fast and Equitable Last-Mile Relief Aid Distribution](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2512.19882/) (2025)
- [LaT: LLM-as-Trainer for Multi-Task Vehicle Routing Solvers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2607.17708/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Vehicle routing problems have been the focus of extensive research over the past sixty years, driven by their economic importance and their theoretical interest. The diversity of applications has motivated the study of a myriad of problem variants with different attributes. In this article, we provide a concise overview of existing and emerging problem variants. Models are typically refined along three lines: considering more relevant objectives and performance metrics, integrating vehicle routing evaluations with other tactical decisions, and capturing fine-grained yet essential aspects of modern supply chains. We organize the main problem attributes within this structured framework. We discuss recent research directions and pinpoint current shortcomings, recent successes, and emerging challenges.