ABSTRACT
This research focuses on exploring the economics related to the joint delivery system using trucks and drones. Transportation distances and costs are approximated as simple functions using continuum approximation (CA) methods, which can keep key issues and tradeoffs in focus. The main contribution is to develop cost models using the derived methods and gain a greater understanding of delivery activities by focusing on the tradeoffs between major components, which are valuable for decision-makers: choose economical delivery mode based on customer density, partition service region into optimal sub-regions, and obtain an optimal delivery ratio between trucks and drones.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.