India Proposes Mandatory ADAS — Automatic Emergency Braking on Every New Car by 2032

India Wants Auto-Braking on Every Car

Every new passenger car sold in India could soon be required to brake itself before a crash. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has floated a draft amendment to the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, that would make Automatic Emergency Braking System (AEBS) a standard fitment, reaching every car model by October 2032. It is open for public feedback for 30 days.

AEBS applies the brakes automatically when a driver fails to react to an impending collision: avoid the crash where possible, soften it where it is not. Until now, this technology has been reserved for the costliest trims of a few models.

The Rollout Is Phased, Not Immediate

The draft does not switch everything on at once. From October 1, 2028, any car or light goods vehicle that offers AEBS must comply with AIS-185, the relevant standard. AEBS becomes mandatory on newly manufactured car models from October 1, 2030, and from October 1, 2032, the rule extends to every car model, including those already in production.

Requirement	Applies to	Effective date
Steering effort (AIS-193) and lane-keeping (AIS-191)	M1 vehicles	1 October 2027
AEBS on new truck and bus models, plus blind-spot and drowsiness alerts	Commercial vehicles	January 2027
Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) communication	All new vehicles	1 October 2028
AEBS mandatory	New M1 models	1 October 2030
AEBS mandatory	All M1 models	1 October 2032

Steering and lane-keeping rules arrive earlier. From October 1, 2027, steering effort must meet AIS-193, while cars with Automatic Command Steering Functionalities or an Emergency Lane Keeping System must meet the related standards. From October 1, 2029, those systems become mandatory on cars registered as transport vehicles, a change expected to reshape taxi and fleet specifications.

It Goes Beyond Braking

The same wave of rulemaking tightens several other areas. New vehicle models must meet revised frontal and side-impact crash standards from October 2027, extending to all models from October 2028. Fuel systems must resist leakage in a rear-impact test, and electric vehicle batteries must stay secured and disconnect their high-voltage circuit after a crash. Event Data Recorders get a mandatory standard from October 2029, though fitting one stays optional. Read our earlier report on the new emission and safety norms for how BS-VII fits into the same calendar.

Vehicle-to-Vehicle communication is the sleeper proposal. From October 2028, new vehicles would exchange information such as speed and position, complementing radar and camera-based features. It is a far more ambitious target than the braking rule itself.

What This Means for You

For a buyer, the practical question is money. Mandatory hardware rarely arrives free. But the timeline is long enough that the first affected cars will not reach showrooms until the end of the decade, by which time sensor costs should have fallen sharply. The bigger shift is structural: features that today sit behind a top-variant paywall, as our guide to cars with ADAS explains, would become the baseline. Compare any car you are considering on the AUTOINDIA compare tool.

(Sources: Ministry of Road Transport and Highways draft notification to the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, October 2026; NDTV Auto, 23 October 2026; The Economic Times, 23 October 2026. Image credits: Transport for NSW, CC BY-SA 4.0; Kalispera Dell, CC BY 3.0; Riley, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.)

::KEY_NUMBERS:: AEBS on new M1 models | Oct 2030 All M1 models | Oct 2032 Public comment window | 30 days V2V man ::TLDR:: MoRTH has proposed making AEBS standard on all new cars by 2032 Rollout is phased from 2027, starting with steering and lane-keeping standards Commercial vehicles get AEBS from January 2027 Vehicle-to-Vehicle communication proposed from October 2028 ::TIMELINE:: Oct 2027 | steering and lane-keeping standards (AIS-193, AIS-191) Jan 2027 | AEBS on new truck and bus models Oct 2028 | V2V communication on all new vehicles Oct 2030 | AEBS mandatory on new M1 models Oct 2032 | AEBS on all M1 models in production ::GLOSSARY:: AEBS | Automatic Emergency Braking System that brakes automatically to avoid or reduce a crash ADAS | Advanced Driver Assistance Systems such as adaptive cruise control and lane-keep assist V2V | Vehicle-to-Vehicle communication, letting cars share speed, position and direction M1 | the regulatory category for passenger cars ::PULLQUOTE:: Safety technology that once sat behind a top-variant paywall is now being written into law — and that changes what every buyer can expect as standard. ::PROS:: Clear, phased timelines give makers time to plan Features reach mass-market cars, not just top trims Covers non-exhaust safety, not only emissions ::CONS:: Costs will likely be passed to buyers Six-year runway to full compliance is long Small makers may struggle with the tech timeline ::POLL:: Will mandatory ADAS make you pay more for a car? || Yes, prices will rise || No, it will be absorbed || Only on base variants ::SOURCES:: Ministry of Road Transport and Highways draft notification; NDTV Auto; The Economic Times