Fascinating Intersection Of Math And Trucking And Attitude

One thing I love about TruckingTruth is the positive attitude exuded and encouraged by longtime members.

And it turns out, a positive attitude is something your company pays attention to, too:

People are also emotional, and it turns out an unhappy truck driver can be trouble. Modern routing models incorporate whether a truck driver is happy or not—something he may not know about himself. For example, one major trucking company that declined to be named does “predictive analysis” on when drivers are at greater risk of being involved in a crash. Not only does the company have information on how the truck is being driven—speeding, hard-braking events, rapid lane changes—but on the life of the driver. “We actually have built into the model a number of indicators that could be surrogates for dissatisfaction,” said one employee familiar with the program. SOURCE: http://nautil.us/issue/3/in-transit/unhappy-truckers-and-other-algorithmic-problems

I recommend reading the entire piece. It's fascinating.

This is related to the classic Seven Bridges of Königsberg

Also, slime molds can solve a traveling salesman muliti-stop problem, sometimes faster than a computer!

Shrinking blob speeds traveling salesman on his way.

(I just thought I'd throw this out here for further reading.)

Good reads, Errol. Thanks!

So ... could a slime mold be a planner? Just asking.

Oh Errol, there is no solution to The Traveling Salesman Problem, there are good approximations but there is no optimal solution possible.

Oh Errol, there is no solution to The Traveling Salesman Problem, there are good approximations but there is no optimal solution possible.

The Traveling salesman problem is more of a situation. The salesman had x number of stops. There is a solution for each x, but there is no general way, or algorithm that will solve all the x's.

This is why planners get paid the big bucks. Figuring out that after you get from A o B, which shipper will be your next C, and getting the minimum miles deadhead between them.

BTW, UPS trucks have so many stops their computer routing (the traveling salesman machine) tries to use more right turns than left turns. Talk about shaving seconds off a route!