The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is planning a significant technological upgrade to its existing 1033 National Highway Helpline to provide faster and better assistance to highway users. The upgraded system will incorporate advanced technologies including Artificial Intelligence (AI), real-time location tracking, and smart emergency-response systems to improve service delivery.
The current 1033 helpline, introduced in 2018, operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, covering more than 1.46 lakh kilometers of National Highways and receiving approximately 15,000 calls daily. It provides assistance for medical emergencies, vehicle breakdowns, ambulance and crane services, toll plaza and FASTag-related issues, and other highway travel problems, with multilingual support capabilities.
The Next Generation 1033 platform aims to deliver several key improvements: faster assistance through better call reception and dispatch systems, real-time location identification of callers, AI-assisted multilingual call handling in different Indian languages, intelligent dispatch systems to identify and send the most suitable emergency vehicles, proactive alerts to highway users about incidents and developments, and improved coordination between helpline services, emergency responders, and highway operations teams. Human operators will continue to play a crucial role in emergencies requiring human judgment and decision-making.
Indian Highways Management Company Limited (IHMCL), a company promoted by NHAI, has invited an Expression of Interest (EOI) from companies and consortia for the development, design, deployment, operation, and maintenance of the Next Generation 1033 Helpline and Call Centre. The initiative requires expertise in software development, digital platforms, 24x7 call-centre operations, and emergency-response services. Companies specializing in mobility and ride-hailing, logistics, quick-commerce, public safety, Computer-Aided Dispatch, Voice AI, and Indian-language speech-recognition technologies are specifically encouraged to participate.
IHMCL will seek suggestions and technical inputs from industry experts to develop a reliable, scalable, and future-ready system, incorporating relevant industry best practices while finalizing requirements. The upgraded helpline is expected to make highway assistance faster, more coordinated, and more convenient for citizens by combining advanced technology with human support to improve safety and travel experience on National Highways across the country.