Dynamic Relocation in Ridesharing via Fixpoint Construction

Ian A. Kash, zhongkai wen, Lenore Zuck

Keywords: Ridesharing, driver relocation

TL;DR: We rigorously analyze the convergence behavior of driver relocation policies for ridesharing platforms and apply the resulting insights to develop a dynamic relocation policy

Abstract: To address spatial imbalances in the supply and demand of drivers, ridesharing platforms can make use of policies to direct driver relocation. We study a simple model of this problem, which allows us to give a constructive characterization of the unique fixpoint of system dynamics. Using this construction, we design a dynamic policy that provides stronger, than previous work, guarantees about its rate of convergence to the fixpoint. Simulations demonstrate the benefits of our approach.