Driver Fatigue and Workload Management

Product Used: Route Optimization API

Background

A waste collection company operates in a large rural area, where daily collection routes often span long distances, leading drivers to work extended shifts with minimal breaks. Due to strict labor regulations, drivers must take periodic breaks to avoid fines and penalties. However, with no automated scheduling for these mandatory breaks, drivers either stop independently—often creating inefficiencies in the route—or risk missing required rest periods, which may lead to fines and impact their health and safety.

Problem Statements

The waste collection company wants to solve for:

Regulatory Compliance Issues: Labor laws mandate specific break times to avoid driver fatigue, but unscheduled stops may disrupt route efficiency, creating scheduling challenges and risking fines if breaks are missed.
Driver Fatigue: Long, uninterrupted routes cause fatigue, increasing the risk of accidents, reducing productivity, and impacting driver well-being.

Solution

NextBillion.ai Route Optimization API allows scheduling breaks and layovers for drivers to ensure drivers receive mandatory breaks without disrupting route efficiency.

Incorporating Breaks

We can introduce breaks by defining a time window when it should be taken and the duration of the break. The optimization service then automatically schedules breaks at times and locations that fit within each route without impacting service levels.

Schedule a 5-min break for a driver by specifying the following attributes:

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  "break":{
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            "id":1,
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            "time_windows":[[1724679300, 1724682900]],
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            "service":300
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           }
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Enhancing Driver Safety and Compliance

Scheduled breaks after continuously working help drivers avoid fatigue-related incidents and ensure compliance with labor regulations, reducing risks of fines and improving driver well-being. Drivers can focus on safe operation, knowing that rest periods are automatically built into their schedules.

Following is an example of configuring automatic breaks of 8 minutes for drivers, after they continuously drive for 30 minutes:

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 "drive_time_layover_config":{
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            "max_continuous_driving":1800,
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            "layover_duration":480,
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            "include_service_time":true
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           }

Sample API request and response

Here is a complete JSON request that we built for this case and the corresponding response.

API Request

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curl --location 'https://api.nextbillion.io/optimization/v2?key=<your_api_key>' --header 'Content-Type: application/json' --data '{...}'

API Response

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{
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    "description": "Driver Fatigue and Workload Management",
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    "result": "{...}",
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    "status": "Ok",
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    "message": ""
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}

We can see from the response that for each of the drivers the breaks were added into the scheduled route plan. Scheduling breaks and layovers within waste collection routes helps companies optimize compliance, enhance driver safety, and maintain efficient operations, especially for long rural routes. By aligning routes with driver rest needs, waste collection companies can balance regulatory adherence with operational efficiency.