Quantum walk-based vehicle routing optimisation

Abstract: This paper demonstrates the applicability of the Quantum Walk-based Optimisation Algorithm(QWOA) to the Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem (CVRP). Efficient algorithms are developedfor the indexing and unindexing of the solution space and for implementing the required alternatingphase-walk unitaries, which are the core components of QWOA. Results of numerical simulationdemonstrate that the QWOA is capable of producing convergence to near-optimal solutions for arandomly generated 8 location CVRP. Preparation of the amplified quantum state in this exampleproblem is demonstrated to produce high-quality solutions, which are more optimal than expectedfrom classical random sampling of equivalent computational effort.