{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,15]],"date-time":"2026-06-15T14:36:13Z","timestamp":1781534173059,"version":"3.54.5"},"reference-count":37,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,4]],"date-time":"2026-04-04T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1775260800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["52272334, 61074142"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["52272334, 61074142"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"award":["52272334, 61074142"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["52272334, 61074142"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/01h0zpd94","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Systems"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Online ride-hailing platforms increasingly rely on differentiated incentive mechanisms to regulate driver participation and balance supply and demand. However, drivers\u2019 adaptive responses to such incentives introduce dynamic feedback and uncertainty that static equilibrium models fail to capture. This study develops a dual-layer Stackelberg\u2013evolutionary game framework in which the platform acts as a strategic leader setting the order allocation rates and prices, while heterogeneous drivers adapt their working-hour strategies through evolutionary dynamics. Using operational data from Ningbo, China, we calibrated the demand elasticity and driver cost parameters and identified endogenous fatigue-cost thresholds that govern regime shifts in strategy dominance. Simulation results show that uniform incentives tend to drive the system toward single-strategy lock-in, whereas differentiated order allocation and pricing effectively sustain multi-strategy coexistence and mitigate extreme supply polarization. The findings reveal how platform-led differentiation reshapes the evolutionary fitness landscape of drivers, providing actionable guidance for incentive design aimed at stabilizing supply structures, improving platform revenue, and protecting driver welfare.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/systems14040399","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,6]],"date-time":"2026-04-06T03:11:28Z","timestamp":1775445088000},"page":"399","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Evolution of Driver Strategies Under Platform-Led Incentives: A Stackelberg\u2013Evolutionary Game Model with Large-Scale Ride-Hailing Data"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Wenbo","family":"Su","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Maritime and Transportation, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315832, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jingu","family":"Mou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Maritime and Transportation, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315832, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zhengfeng","family":"Huang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Maritime and Transportation, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315832, China"},{"name":"Collaborative Innovation Center of Modern Urban Traffic Technologies, Southeast University, Nanjing 211189, China"},{"name":"National Traffic Management Engineering & Technology Research Center, Ningbo University Sub-Center, Ningbo 315832, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yibing","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Intelligent Transportation Systems, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hongzhao","family":"Dong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Mechanical Engineering, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310023, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4260-6732","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Manel","family":"Grifoll","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Barcelona School of Nautical Studies, Universitat Polit\u00e8cnica de Catalunya (UPC\u2014BarcelonaTech), 08003 Barcelona, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3834-1401","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Pengjun","family":"Zheng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Maritime and Transportation, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315832, China"},{"name":"Collaborative Innovation Center of Modern Urban Traffic Technologies, Southeast University, Nanjing 211189, China"},{"name":"National Traffic Management Engineering & Technology Research Center, Ningbo University Sub-Center, Ningbo 315832, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,4]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"705","DOI":"10.1002\/nav.21872","article-title":"Dynamic pricing and matching in ride-hailing platforms","volume":"67","author":"Yan","year":"2020","journal-title":"Nav. 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