India proposes mandatory AEB in vehicle safety win
In a huge win for vehicle safety, India has proposed that all new M1 passenger car models manufactured from 1st October 2030 be mandated to come with Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB).
For pre-2030 models still in production, AEB would be required from 1st October 2032.
M1 vehicles are passenger motor vehicles that carry no more than eight seats in addition to the driver’s seat.
On 19 October 2026, India’s Ministry of Road Transport and Highways stated in a draft notification: “M1 category of vehicles manufactured on and after 1st October 2030 in the case of new models and 1st October 2032 in the case of all models shall be fitted with Advanced Emergency Braking System, conforming to AIS-185, as amended from time to time.”
AEB is a life-saving vehicle technology that automatically applies the brakes when the driver fails to respond to an emergency, either to avoid a crash or to reduce the impact of a collision. It’s one of the biggest road safety breakthroughs that Global NCAP has been relentlessly advocating for across the world, with the technology factored into its vehicle evaluations.
Meera Naran, Global NCAP’s first Advocacy Ambassador and one of the UK’s most widely respected voices for road safety, has made AEB central to her campaign alongside other crash prevention technologies like Electronic Stability Control and Intelligent Speed Assistance.
Her campaigning has helped shape the UK’s first Road Safety Strategy in over a decade which was published earlier this year. The national strategy pledges to adopt ‘Dev’s Law’, the campaign named in memory of Meera’s eight-year-old boy who was tragically killed in a motorway collision with a lorry in 2018.
Dev’s Law calls for compulsory AEB and other Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) technologies in new vehicles - technology that Meera believes could have saved her son’s life.
In India, the AEB proposal comes alongside an increasing focus on vehicle safety technologies, with multiple measures mandated on braking systems for medium and heavy-duty vehicles. Effective on 1 October 2027, a revised braking standard has been mandated for trucks to improve brake performance.
The AEB requirement remains just a proposal for now, with the rules to be taken into consideration after 30 days of the draft notification.
If adapted, the move will undoubtedly become one of the greatest vehicle safety breakthroughs for India and its road users.
