Problems of real time fleet management

Thanks to the evolution of information and communication technologies, a transportation carrier may modify routes that are previously defined, in particular by the use of global positioning systems. Thus, the company may increase its profits and propose a better quality of service to its customers. To help the manager to exploit these new data flows, new decision support methods are then needed and must be developed. The goal of this paper is to formulate a definition of the fleet management problem in real time, to classify its features and to detail all elements defining this problem type. Finally, a survey of different problem solving approaches is proposed.