A Shortest Path Algorithm for Autonomous Vehicle Delivery Problem

This paper descripts an algorithm to find a shortest path for autonomous vehicle delivery problem. The process is divided into two steps. The first step is to sort the delivery point according to a criterion index considering the distance from itself to the inlet and the outlet. Because it is assumed that the autonomous vehicle always drives forwards the direction of passing each delivery point should be determined. Thus the second step is to calculate the local length for two direction paths including the last and the next points. After comparing their lengths, the proper direction path can be selected. A case is used to validate the presented algorithm. The result shows that the algorithm is feasible.