Zomato

Zomato is one of India's largest food delivery platforms, coordinating 300,000+ delivery riders serving 50+ million customers across 1,000+ cities. The company faces a dynamic traveling salesman problem at massive scale: assigning orders, routing riders efficiently, minimizing delivery time, and adapting to constantly changing conditions.

Centralized optimization calculating globally optimal routes for all 300,000 riders is computationally infeasible. Instead, Zomato uses distributed, local optimization resembling flocking coordination. Riders follow local assignment rules: separation (don't overload with orders beyond capacity), alignment (accept orders based on proximity and direction), and cohesion (operate within assigned service zones).

The system resembles ant foraging with digital pheromone trails: demand signals attract more riders to high-demand areas, balancing supply-demand through distributed response. Operating near criticality through surge pricing maintains efficiency. The result: 2+ million daily orders with median 30-minute delivery times and ~60% rider utilization rate.