MoRTH's 19 October draft puts AEB on every new car model from 2030 and all M1 cars from 2032

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has issued a draft notification dated 19 October 2026 that would make an Advanced Emergency Braking System compulsory on passenger cars in India. Reports on the draft say it was published in the Gazette of India on 21 October, with the usual 30 day window for objections and suggestions before the rules are finalised.

The headline dates are two. New M1 models, meaning cars with up to eight seats besides the driver, would need AEB from 1 October 2030. Models already in production before that date get two more years, so the requirement reaches the whole M1 fleet on 1 October 2032. That covers almost every car and SUV sold here, from a Maruti Swift to a Mahindra XUV700.

The standard matters as much as the date

Before either mandate bites, there is an interim step. From 1 October 2028, M1 and N1 vehicles that are offered with AEB must comply with AIS-185, the Automotive Industry Standard for the system, as amended from time to time. N1 covers goods vehicles up to 3.5 tonnes.

That 2028 clause is the quiet part of the draft. Several cars on sale in India already advertise autonomous emergency braking as part of a camera or radar based ADAS pack, and at present there is no Indian performance standard those systems have to clear. Once AIS-185 applies, a carmaker cannot simply fit a camera module and call it AEB. The function will have to be demonstrated at a notified test agency against defined targets and conditions, which is how emission and crash requirements already work under the CMVR.

Steering, lane keeping and taxis come in earlier

AEB is not the only item in the draft. Reports on the notification list steering effort requirements under AIS-193 from 1 October 2027, and Emergency Lane Keeping Systems under AIS-191 Part 1 from the same date. M1 vehicles registered as transport vehicles, that is taxis and app cabs, face an earlier set of demands from 1 October 2029, including automatically commanded steering and lane keeping, plus driver drowsiness and attention warning.

The draft also carries requirements covering child restraint systems and luggage retention, and separate braking and stability items for trucks, including electronic stability control referenced to AIS 162 from 1 October 2027.

What this means for buyers and engineers

For buyers, the practical effect is that a feature currently sold as a premium differentiator becomes a floor. For suppliers, the 2028 date is the real deadline, because validation data, sensor sourcing and software release cycles for a 2030 model year have to be locked well before that. Much of the perception and software validation work for Indian ADAS programmes is done out of engineering centres in Bengaluru and Pune, and the gap between a feature that works on a test track and one that behaves sensibly in Indian traffic is exactly what AIS-185 will have to police. False braking on a cut in two wheeler is the complaint that will decide whether owners leave the system switched on.

None of this is law yet. It is a draft, open to comment, and the industry will push on dates and on the detail of the test procedure. But the direction is set, and the 2028 compliance date for systems already being sold is the one to watch.

Sources