What makes you think it's less efficient? They are driving all around the city. The system organizes the deliveries into an efficient route that favors right turns.
I'm sure the system is smart enough to not have them go all the way around the block to backtrack. It just has them hit that location before advancing. I would love to see an illustration of the type of route it outputs.
> The system organizes the deliveries into an efficient route that favors right turns.
Yes, I just wonder how much less efficient "the most efficient route with only right turns" is than the true optimal route. Based on my limited experience with optimal TSP problems, I bet they're fairly close.
I'm imagining a route which gives each driver a chunk of several blocks, then has them hit all locations within the chunk with a right-hand spiral inwards... But I'd love to see the actual routes.
According to the article, the system doesn't really plot an only-right-turns route, it's more like an 80%-right-turns route. But the fact that the software knows enough to know that left turns are worth avoiding is a pretty good piece of work.
Yeah, I doubt it would make a difference at all with a small fleet. The point is that UPS has TONS of vehicles on the road every single day, so shaving a fraction of the costs related to each becomes substantial across the company.
I'm sure the system is smart enough to not have them go all the way around the block to backtrack. It just has them hit that location before advancing. I would love to see an illustration of the type of route it outputs.