New Beta Feature: Flexible Vehicle Departure Times

Directions API Route Optimization API
1

One of the most requested features in the last ten years is finally here: you can now optimize when a vehicle departs from its start location, instead of always leaving at earliest_start.

How it works

Set latest_start on a vehicle to define a departure window. The optimizer will then choose the best departure time within that window to minimize waiting time along the route.

 {
    "vehicle_id": "driver_1",
    "earliest_start": 1750057200,
    "latest_start": 1750071600,
    "latest_end": 1750100400
  }

You can also control the preference with departure_preference:

  • "late" (default) — departs as late as possible while meeting all time windows
  • "early" — departs as early as possible, eliminating waiting time along the route

The response includes a new departure_window on the start activity showing the feasible departure range.

The feature only activates when you send latest_start.

This is a beta feature. We’d love your feedback on the results and behavior. Let us know in this thread or via email.

1 Like
2

Great update!

Just wondering, does/will it work with traffic info like ‘tomtom’?

3

Not yet, currently the departure is shifted to reduce waiting time, and the schedule is then recalculated with the correct traffic data. But the shift itself doesn’t try to optimize for traffic conditions. That’s something we’re looking into for a future iteration.