Taxi Dispatch Optimization in Smart Cities Using TOPSIS

Abstract

The modern smart cities demand an efficient taxi dispatch system to satisfy the expectations of the passengers while giving justified rides to the drivers. Many a time, the customers have to wait too long for a taxi and the taxi driver wastes a lot of his time and the fuel in finding customers. Furthermore, some customers cancel the ride for not finding suitable category of taxi. Though there exist some algorithms that aim to optimize the assignment of taxis to appropriate customers, yet most of these approaches focus on the positioning of the taxi drivers. This research aims to address the problem of taxi dispatching while keeping in view the preferences of the customer. To this end, this research models taxi dispatch system as a multicriteria decision-making problem where not only is the distance between the passenger and the taxi a parameter, but other user preferences are also incorporated in finalizing a taxi for a given passenger travel request. The proposed method has been compared with the traditional taxi dispatching system. The results reveal more satisfactory taxi dispatching based on the users’ preferences. Furthermore, the precision of the proposed approach has been proven with lesser cancellation, improved driver rating, and reduction in complaints.