A dynamic clustering method for relocation process in free-floating vehicle sharing systems

Similar to the station based ones, free-floating vehicle shared-use systems deal with significant fluctuations in demand, depending on day/time and area of a city. Therefore, we suggest a methodology for generating a dynamic zone clustering in order to define cost-efficient relocation strategies. The aim of the proposed flexible clusterization is identifying the optimal size and number of areas among which perform an effective and enhanced vehicle repositioning, reducing the necessity to move vehicles from one zone to another and, accordingly, shrinking the relocation costs. The proposed method is applied to a test case study, in order to verify the accuracy of the suggested model.