The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will upgrade its existing 1033 National Highway Helpline with advanced technology to provide faster and better assistance to people travelling on National Highways. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways said that the upgraded 1033 helpline will use technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, real-time location tracking and smart emergency-response systems.

These improvements will help the 1033 helpline identify the location of callers, understand calls in different Indian languages and send the right assistance to the location more quickly. The Ministry said that human operators will continue to play an important role, especially in emergencies where human judgement and decision-making are essential.

The 1033 helpline was introduced in 2018 and is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It helps National Highway users with medical emergencies, vehicle breakdowns, assistance from ambulances, cranes and patrol vehicles and Toll plaza and FASTag-related issues. The helpline currently covers more than 1.46 lakh kilometre of National Highways and provides assistance in multiple languages.