Delivery agent network management

A method comprising:

• storing, by one or more processors, in a data structure, order information received during processing of a plurality of orders made by customers from a plurality of merchants, the plurality of orders delivered to the customers by respective agents, wherein the one or more processors are coupled to one or more communication interfaces for communicating over one or more networks with a plurality of agent devices, a plurality of customer devices, and a plurality of merchant devices;
• training, by the one or more processors, a first computational model using, as training data, the received order information stored in the data structure, the first computational model trained to predict which merchants of the plurality of merchants are likely to receive orders, and to further predict at least one item for each order predicted to be received for a respective merchant;
• determining, by the one or more processors, for an upcoming time period, and using the first computational model, individual merchants of the plurality of merchants that are predicted to receive orders during the upcoming time period, and an item predicted to be ordered for each predicted order;
• determining map location information for each merchant that is predicted to receive an order during the upcoming time period;
• receiving geolocation coordinates from a plurality of agent devices, each agent device executing an instance of an agent application that configures the agent device to automatically and periodically obtain and transmit, to the one or more processors over the one or more networks, geolocation coordinates obtained via a satellite-positioning-system sensor, wherein each respective agent device is equipped with a respective satellite-positioning-system sensor able to indicate real-time geolocation coordinates of the respective agent device;
• based at least on the geolocation coordinates received from each of the respective agent devices of the plurality of agent devices, correlating, by the one or more processors, the received geolocation coordinates with the map location information for the plurality of merchants to monitor, in real time, respective indicated geographic locations of the plurality of agent devices relative to the plurality of merchants within a geographic service region encompassing the plurality of merchants, wherein each agent device is associated with a respective agent of a plurality of agents;
• based at least on the first computational model predicting that a first merchant of the individual merchants is predicted to receive an order for a first item for the upcoming time period, executing, by the one or more processors, a second computational model that receives, as input, the current geographic locations of the plurality of agent devices, determines one or more of the agent devices indicated to be within a threshold distance of the first merchant predicted to receive the order for the first item, and automatically selects, in real time, a location to which to send a selected agent of the plurality of agents so as to be in position for picking up the order that is predicted to be received for the first merchant for the upcoming time period, the second computational model trained to predict an amount of preparation time for preparing the first item predicted to be included in the order that is predicted to be received for the first merchant, and to select the location to which to send the selected agent based at least in part on the predicted amount of preparation time for preparing the first item;
• and
• sending, by the one or more processors and via the one or more communication interfaces, a message to the agent device associated with the selected agent to instruct the selected agent to move to the location to be in position for picking up the order that is predicted to be received, while continuing to monitor, in real time, relative locations of the agent device of the selected agent and the agent devices of the other agents based on additional received geolocation coordinates,
• wherein the message is sent in real time, via an application programming interface, as an in-application push communication to the application executing on the agent device of the selected agent, the message including mapping information to cause the application executing on the agent device to present a map in an interactive user interface on a display of the agent device, the map displaying a geographic region in which the agent device has been detected and further showing at least current coordinates of the agent device and a destination location corresponding to the instructed location within the geographic region.

One or more non-transitory computer readable media storing instructions executable by one or more processors to cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

• storing, in a data structure, order information received during processing of a plurality of orders made by customers from a plurality of merchants, the plurality of orders delivered to the customers by respective agents, wherein the one or more processors are coupled to one or more communication interfaces for communicating over one or more networks with a plurality of agent devices, a plurality of customer devices, and a plurality of merchant devices;
• training a first computational model using, as training data, the received order information stored in the data structure, the first computational model trained to predict which merchants of the plurality of merchants are likely to receive orders, and to further predict at least one item for each order predicted to be received for a respective merchant;
• determining, for an upcoming time period, and using the first computational model, individual merchants of the plurality of merchants that are predicted to receive orders during the upcoming time period, and an item predicted to be ordered for each predicted order;
• determining map location information for each merchant that is predicted to receive an order during the upcoming time period;
• receiving geolocation coordinates from a plurality of agent devices, each agent device executing an instance of an agent application that configures the agent device to automatically and periodically obtain and transmit, to the one or more processors over the one or more networks, geolocation coordinates obtained via a satellite-positioning-system sensor, wherein each respective agent device is equipped with a respective satellite-positioning-system sensor able to indicate real-time geolocation coordinates of the respective agent device;
• based at least on the geolocation coordinates received from each of the respective agent devices of the plurality of agent devices, correlating the received geolocation coordinates with the map location information for the plurality of merchants to monitor, in real time, respective indicated geographic locations of the plurality of agent devices relative to the plurality of merchants within a geographic service region encompassing the plurality of merchants, wherein each agent device is associated with a respective agent of a plurality of agents;
• based at least on the first computational model predicting that a first merchant of the individual merchants is predicted to receive an order for a first item for the upcoming time period, executing a second computational model that receives, as input, the current geographic locations of the plurality of agent devices, determines one or more of the agent devices indicated to be within a threshold distance of the first merchant predicted to receive the order for the first item, and automatically selects, in real time, a location to which to send a selected agent of the plurality of agents so as to be in position for picking up the order that is predicted to be received for the first merchant for the upcoming time period, the second computational model trained to predict an amount of preparation time for preparing the first item predicted to be included in the order that is predicted to be received for the first merchant, and to select the location to which to send the selected agent based at least in part on the predicted amount of preparation time for preparing the first item;
• and
• sending, via the one or more communication interfaces, a message to the agent device associated with the selected agent to instruct the selected agent to move to the location to be in position for picking up the order that is predicted to be received, while continuing to monitor, in real time, relative locations of the agent device of the selected agent and the agent devices of the other agents based on additional received geolocation coordinates,
• wherein the message is sent in real time, via an application programming interface, as an in-application push communication to the application executing on the agent device of the selected agent, the message including mapping information to cause the application executing on the agent device to present a map in an interactive user interface on a display of the agent device, the map displaying a geographic region in which the agent device has been detected and further showing at least current coordinates of the agent device and a destination location corresponding to the instructed location within the geographic region.