# SmartPathfinder: Pushing the Limits of Heuristic Solutions for Vehicle Routing Problem with Drones Using Reinforcement Learning

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2404.13068 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.13068/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Placed in RL for games and combinatorial optimization, one of 15 directions in Deep reinforcement learning methods.
- Builds on 3 of its 30 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 13 Apr 2024.

## Placed in

- Deep reinforcement learning methods / [RL for games and combinatorial optimization](https://mlsanity.com/deeprl/rl-for-games-and-combinatorial-optimization/)

## Builds on (most cited first, 3 of 3)

- [Hyper-Parameter Optimization: A Review of Algorithms and Applications](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2003.05689/) (2020)
- [Vehicle Routing Problems for Drone Delivery](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1608.02305/) (2016)
- [The vehicle routing problem with drones and drone speed selection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2111.13050/) (2021)

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [TSS GAZ PTP: Towards Improving Gumbel AlphaZero with Two-stage Self-play for Multi-constrained Electric Vehicle Routing Problems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.15777/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

The Vehicle Routing Problem with Drones (VRPD) seeks to optimize the routing paths for both trucks and drones, where the trucks are responsible for delivering parcels to customer locations, and the drones are dispatched from these trucks for parcel delivery, subsequently being retrieved by the trucks. Given the NP-Hard complexity of VRPD, numerous heuristic approaches have been introduced. However, improving solution quality and reducing computation time remain significant challenges. In this paper, we conduct a comprehensive examination of heuristic methods designed for solving VRPD, distilling and standardizing them into core elements. We then develop a novel reinforcement learning (RL) framework that is seamlessly integrated with the heuristic solution components, establishing a set of universal principles for incorporating the RL framework with heuristic strategies in an aim to improve both the solution quality and computation speed. This integration has been applied to a state-of-the-art heuristic solution for VRPD, showcasing the substantial benefits of incorporating the RL framework. Our evaluation results demonstrated that the heuristic solution incorporated with our RL framework not only elevated the quality of solutions but also achieved rapid computation speeds, especially when dealing with extensive customer locations.