What Is Route Optimization? (Real Examples)
Route optimization is the process of finding the most efficient order to visit multiple stops.
It reduces drive time, fuel costs, and mileage — and helps drivers get home earlier.
Why it matters: The number of possible routes grows exponentially.
With just 5 stops, there are 120 possible stop orders.
TrackRoad evaluates millions of combinations automatically to find the best route.
Why route optimization matters🔗
Even a small number of stops creates many possible routes. For example:
- 3 stops → 6 possible routes
- 4 stops → 24 possible routes
- 5 stops → 120 possible routes
TrackRoad reduces total distance traveled, which lowers fuel usage, emissions, wear & tear,
and the chance of accidents — while improving customer service and delivery efficiency.
Optimized vs Not Optimized (Side-by-side)🔗
Here’s a simple example where optimizing the same route reduces distance by over 35 miles.
Multiply that savings across drivers and daily routes — and the impact becomes huge.
Intelligent Dispatching (Multiple Vehicles)🔗
When you have more than one vehicle, route optimization is only part of the problem.
TrackRoad also supports automatic dispatching, where stops are assigned to the best matched vehicle first,
then each route is optimized.
Dispatching considers: distance, time windows, load capacity, max stops, and vehicle start/finish locations.
TrackRoad examines your stops and vehicles, chooses the best scenario,
assigns stops to vehicles, and optimizes each route — automatically.
What is route optimization?
Route optimization finds the best stop order to minimize drive time, miles, fuel costs, and missed time windows.
TrackRoad evaluates millions of combinations automatically.
Why does route optimization matter for multi-stop routing?
The number of possible routes grows exponentially with each stop.
For example, 5 stops create 120 possible stop orders — too many to solve manually.
What is intelligent dispatching?
Intelligent dispatching automatically assigns stops to vehicles based on eligibility factors
like distance, capacity, time windows, and start/finish locations, then optimizes each vehicle route.
Ready to optimize your routes?🔗
Try TrackRoad’s Route Optimization Tool for free. You don’t need to install anything — just upload stops and optimize.