AIS-140, explained for fleet operators

AIS-140 is an Automotive Industry Standard, titled Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) — Requirements for Public Transport Vehicle Operation. It bundles two functions into one device: vehicle location tracking, and an emergency button. Amendment 1 of 11 December 2017 and Amendment 2 of 5 December 2018 have both revised it. What governs is the standard as amended by both, with Amendment 2 substituting the later wording where the two overlap.

AIS-140 is a technical specification; by itself it makes nothing compulsory. The Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, with central orders and state procedures on top, are what make it compulsory. Read AIS-140 as what the box must do, the CMVR as who must fit one and by when.

The duty sits in Rule 125H of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, inserted by notification G.S.R. 1095(E) of 28 November 2016 — the Central Motor Vehicles (Twentieth Amendment) Rules, 2016 — which came into force on 1 April 2018. The operative date for new public service vehicles, 1 January 2019, came later, set by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways order of 25 October 2018 — the date the Supreme Court recorded in May 2026. The Motor Vehicles (Vehicle Location Tracking Device and Emergency Button) Order, 2018 sits beneath the rule.

Rule 125H does not reach every vehicle. Its proviso exempts two wheelers, e-rickshaws and three wheelers. As first inserted it also exempted any transport vehicle for which no permit is required under the Act, but the Central Motor Vehicles (Tenth Amendment) Rules, 2019 — G.S.R. 808(E) of 23 October 2019 — substituted those clauses, and that exemption is gone.

Related notifications widened the net. As the Odisha State Transport Authority records, G.S.R. 1081 of 2 November 2018 covers national permit vehicles and G.S.R. 617(E) of 3 August 2022 covers vehicles carrying dangerous or hazardous goods.

This guide is general information, not legal advice. Confirm your own position with your RTO or state transport department.

The retrofit timetable was left to the states, so the paperwork differs. Three examples:

The lesson is blunt. A central type approval does not make a device acceptable in your state. Before you buy, check your state's notifications, its list of registered or empanelled models, and the vehicle's record in VAHAN, where the device is tagged and the RTO looks at fitness.

• Meghalaya notified a phase with a deadline. Notification No. TPT.8/2020/368 of 26 February 2025 covered government-owned public transport vehicles, PSU buses and all new vehicles manufactured on or after 1 January 2019, with fitment due by 30 April 2025. Check with the state transport department whether that date has since moved.
• Odisha registers models and fitment centres. Its State Transport Authority charges 50,000 rupees per device model and 10,000 rupees per fitment centre, and appointed BSNL as the implementation agency for the state backend.
• Uttarakhand empanels models instead. Its procedure of 8 March 2019 said only empanelled VLT models are to be used by public service vehicles registered in the state. Confirm the current list with the Transport Commissioner before you buy.

The requirements worth knowing before a salesperson interprets them.

• Position comes from GNSS. The device must be capable of operating in the L and/or S band and include support for NavIC/IRNSS, India's regional navigation satellite system, for devices installed on vehicles on or after 1 April 2019.
• Position, velocity and time go to a government-authorised backend control server over the mobile network at a user-configurable frequency: as often as every 5 seconds during vehicle operation, the highest transmission rate the standard sets, and not less than every 10 minutes in sleep or with the ignition off.
• At least two IP addresses are required: one for the regulatory data stream, one for the emergency response system — both over and above any address needed for operational purposes, so the standard does not hand you a feed of your own.
• An internal backup battery must support four hours of normal operation.
• Store and forward is mandatory when the network drops, with live data given priority over the backlog, and non-volatile memory for at least 40,000 positional logs.
• The device needs an embedded SIM, a unique identifier in read-only memory, an IP 65 rating or better, and a three-axis accelerometer and gyroscope raising harsh braking, harsh acceleration and rash turning alerts. Key parameters must be configurable over the air on an authenticated channel.

Every passenger and the driver must be able to reach a button, and the function cannot stand alone: it is part of the tracking system. On a press, the primary alert goes to the emergency response backend control centre notified by the Government of India. Without a cellular network it goes as an SMS with vehicle location data to configured control centre numbers.

Two details catch operators out. The wiring is watched: a disconnection between switch and controller must be detected through controller logic or a normally closed switch, and an indication of working status must be visible to passengers with the ignition on. And the button is one-time press: a separate release action from an authorised server is needed to clear the emergency flag, so your own control room cannot simply cancel one.

How many buttons, and where, is set by clause 5.3 of Amendment 2, not by a seat count. A passenger transport bus needs buttons every 2 metres on both sides of the passenger seating area, a dedicated panic button for each row reserved for ladies — though one button may serve two successive ladies' rows, provided every lady passenger in either row can reach and operate it — and a button on each pillar where a glass window spans a pitch of 2 metres or more. Odisha publishes a minimum recommended layout by seating capacity — then says the number must be strictly as per clause 5.3. Treat such tables as a floor, not a ceiling.

AIS-140 approval is granted at device level. A test agency issues the certificate of compliance, and an approved device can be fitted or retrofitted by the manufacturer, a dealer, the permit holder or a system integrator in any vehicle model, provided installation meets clause 5.

The certificate must come from a testing agency accredited under Rule 126 of the CMVR, 1989. State procedures name those agencies generically: Odisha requires certification by accredited agencies as prescribed under rule 126, and the manufacturer's backend certified under Rule 126, STQC or NIC. Ask which agency issued your certificate, and check it against the current list.

A type approval certificate on its own is not compliance. AIS-140's code of practice sets conformity of production re-testing every year from first certification, by a Rule 126 agency, and Odisha considers only models holding a valid COP. States commonly want more: the model registered or empanelled locally, fitment by a registered fitment centre, and the device uploaded against the vehicle in VAHAN. Ask for all four in writing.

On 13 May 2026, in S. Rajaseekaran v Union of India, the Supreme Court recorded that less than 1% of transport vehicles carried the device, and directed every State and Union Territory to act.

States must strictly enforce Rule 125H by ensuring installation of tracking devices and panic buttons. No public service vehicle is to be granted a fitness certificate under Section 56, or a permit under Section 66 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, without verified installation. States must ensure retrofitting in vehicles registered up to 31 December 2018, and integrate installation and functionality with VAHAN for real-time compliance monitoring.

Fitness and permit renewal becomes the enforcement counter — a role the code of practice anticipated, since regional transport offices can check a device's registration, activation and functional status in VAHAN at fitness testing.

Ask for documents rather than assurances.

• Which testing agency issued the type approval for this model, and can I see the certificate and the latest conformity of production result?
• Is the model registered or empanelled in my state, and which fitment centre will do the work?
• Which state backend does it report to, and who uploads the device against my vehicle in VAHAN?
• How many emergency buttons will you fit for this body type and seating layout?
• Does the device expose an operational data stream besides the two mandated addresses?