More Than a Ride: Mumbai Autowalas Offer Mental Health Check-Ins

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], February 27: Across Mumbai’s suburbs, including Malad, Andheri, JVLR, and Bandra, auto-rickshaws recently began carrying short, reflective lines about overthinking, stress, and emotional burnout. The messages appeared on everyday commutes, quietly meeting people where they already were: in traffic, between signals, in moments of pause.

The street-level intervention was launched by mental health startup Infiheal alongside auto-rickshaw drivers across the city, bringing conversations around emotional well-being into one of Mumbai’s most routine and shared spaces, the daily commute.

The messages offered no advice or instructions. Instead, they reflected what many commuters were already feeling, prompting riders to pause, reflect, and sometimes share. Images of the autos soon began circulating on social media, accompanied by reactions such as, “Didn’t expect a reminder like this between signals,” and “When your auto ride turns into a mental check-in.”

According to the founders, the month-long campaign “HealOnAuto” was rooted in a simple insight: in Mumbai, emotional strain often blends into the background noise of daily life. By placing mental health messages directly into everyday routes, the initiative suggested that mental health isn’t separate from the city’s rhythm, it moves with it.

For the auto drivers involved, the campaign felt deeply personal. Jugal, the auto-rickshaw driver who lead the initiative across the Western Line, shared that most passengers today are constantly in a rush and visibly stressed, often repeating “jaldi karo” throughout the ride. He added that people need to slow down, spend more time with friends and family, step out together, and live more like a community, not just individuals moving from one place to another.

At a time when AI-led mental health tools and digital therapy platforms are seeing rapid adoption across urban India, the campaign served as a reminder that conversations around emotional well-being do not always need to begin online or in clinical settings. Sometimes, they start in ordinary moments, led by people who witness the city’s stress up close every day.

“Mental health doesn’t always need a screen or a clinical setting to begin,” said Srishti Srivastava, co-founder of Infiheal. “We wanted to start the conversation where people already are, in transit, in between moments, because that’s often where stress quietly lives.”

About Infiheal

Infiheal is a Mumbai-based health-tech startup founded by Srishti Srivastava (IIT Bombay alum) and Utkarsh Srivastava, focused on making mental health care accessible, affordable, and stigma-free. The startup was featured by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the 108th episode of Mann Ki Baat and is best known for Healo AI, a wellness platform that combines an AI mental health chatbot with expert-led therapy, psychometric assessments, journaling, meditation, and self-help tools in 93+ languages.

Infiheal builds AI models for mental health using one of the world’s largest therapy datasets, guided by responsible AI principles and supported by multiple layers of safety moderation and human-in-the-loop escalation for sensitive situations. In just over a year, the platform has reached nearly one million users and was recently represented at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where the founders spoke on the intersection of AI, health, and safety.

Last week, Infiheal also emerged as the winner at the ‘AI for All Global Impact Challenge’ at the India AI Summit 2026, New Delhi, a winner from over 10,000 applicants across 70+ countries and had its showcase graced by  Hon’ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Awarded with a cash prize of INR 25 lakhs, which was presented by Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw, Shri Jitin Prasada and Shri Abhishek Singh. Their vision and victory was also lauded by global leaders, including Sundar Pichai and Rishi Sunak, at an event that brought together visionaries such as Dario Amodei, Demis Hassabis, Mukesh Ambani, Emmanuel Macron and António Guterres, Sam Altman, among many other distinguished global leaders.

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