AIS-140 Explained: What It Means and Who Needs It

AIS-140 is the Automotive Industry Standard that specifies how vehicle tracking devices and emergency buttons must work in Indian public and commercial transport. If you operate buses, taxis, ambulances or school transport, chances are your state transport authority already requires it.

The standard covers three things: a certified GPS device reporting to government-designated servers, one or more panic buttons wired to the device, and specific data formats and reporting intervals — including embedded SIMs with dual-server communication.

Compliance is checked at fitness certification and permit renewal. Non-compliant vehicles face permit rejection, and in several states, on-road penalties. The good news: certified hardware like Exohive’s AIS-140 range makes the process largely invisible — install, activate, and the device handles state backend registration.

Our advice to operators: do not buy non-certified hardware hoping rules will relax. Retrofitting costs more than doing it right the first time, and the certified device gives you the same commercial tracking features on top.