Guided automotive diagnostic software
Scan tools provide vehicle data. Repair-information platforms provide procedures, diagrams, and specifications. STEP brings that information into one guided diagnostic case—keeping the vehicle, concern, evidence, working hypotheses, completed checks, and next step connected.
Instead of stopping at fault codes, possible causes, or document lookup, STEP helps the technician move through one relevant check at a time, record the actual result, and change direction when the evidence no longer supports the current hypothesis.
Adaptive diagnostic loop
Result returns to the active case
Beyond code lookup
Automotive diagnostic software often begins with a DTC, but a code identifies a monitored condition—not necessarily the failed component. Some difficult cases begin without a useful DTC at all.
The technician may need to connect an intermittent symptom, several modules, recent work, wiring paths, scan data, physical measurements, and unresolved questions. The challenge is to preserve what is confirmed, show what has been ruled out, and choose the next check that can narrow the problem.
Understand the category
Different tools solve different parts of the job. STEP connects those parts without pretending they are interchangeable.
Useful for: Retrieving DTCs, live data, freeze-frame information, module status, and other supported vehicle data.
What remains: Deciding what the data means in this vehicle, which hypothesis to test, and what evidence should change the direction.
Useful for: OEM procedures, DTC information, TSBs, wiring diagrams, connector views, specifications, locations, and service instructions.
What remains: Applying the relevant information to the active case and maintaining the reasoning from the original concern to repair verification.
Useful for: Explaining concepts, discussing possible directions, and helping a technician think through a question.
What remains: A durable, vehicle-specific case that separates evidence from assumptions, ties claims to applicable sources, and preserves completed checks and direction changes.
Built for: Organizing the active case, forming and revising hypotheses, presenting one relevant check, recording the result, and carrying the evidence forward.
Technician control: The technician performs or supervises the physical work and confirms the final diagnostic and repair decision.
STEP does not replace the scan tool, test equipment, professional judgment, or repair-information subscription. It is the diagnostic workflow that connects the case around them.
One active case
Preserve the reasoning that normally disappears between screens, notes, and conversations.
Capture the exact vehicle and configuration, customer concern, symptoms, DTCs, operating conditions, recent work, available tools, and results already obtained. A case can also begin without a relevant DTC.
Keep customer reports, technician observations, measurements, service information, and conclusions distinct. A possible cause remains a hypothesis until relevant evidence supports it.
Use the current evidence to form or revise a working hypothesis. The next step should answer a defined diagnostic question—not add another part to a list of possibilities.
Present the purpose, required tools and conditions, action, expected result or interpretation criteria, and the evidence the technician should return.
If the proposed check cannot be performed, STEP can clarify the procedure, retrieve location or connector information, or seek another valid way to obtain the same evidence. If none exists, the workflow explains why the case cannot reliably continue without that result.
Preserve the technician’s response and the interpreted result before moving forward. An unperformed test is not a failed test, and an unknown value is not evidence for either branch.
Use each measurement, observation, DTC, configuration detail, or repair result to support, narrow, or reject the current direction without erasing the earlier evidence.
Connect the repair recommendation to its evidence. Recheck the repaired condition, original symptom, and remaining or returning DTCs. If the concern remains, preserve the repair and continue from the updated evidence.
AI with defined authority
STEP uses AI within a structured diagnostic workflow. It can preserve context, retrieve applicable service information, revise hypotheses, select the next check, interpret the entered result, and recommend a repair when the evidence sufficiently localizes the fault.
The technician determines whether a step is safe and appropriate, performs or supervises the physical test, confirms the required conditions, evaluates the vehicle, and makes the final diagnostic and repair decision.
ALLDATA, Mitchell 1, and manufacturer resources remain essential sources of vehicle-specific procedures, values, diagrams, and test conditions. STEP connects authorized, applicable information to the active diagnostic question and preserves the result obtained when it is used.
Choose your path
Preserve measurements, ruled-out directions, and the reason behind each decision from the first concern through repair verification.
Explore STEP for MechanicsKeep intake, diagnosis, repair approval, completed work, and verification connected when more than one person touches the vehicle.
Explore STEP for Repair ShopsPreserve diagnostic context across authorized teams, locations, escalations, and repeat service events within a defined pilot scope.
Explore STEP for EnterprisePreparing for early access
STEP is currently a working prototype preparing for staged early access with professional technicians and repair businesses.
Vehicle coverage, account limits, onboarding, support, and commercial terms will be confirmed before access begins.
Initial interactive pilots are planned for late 2026, subject to product readiness.
Frequently asked questions
Automotive diagnostic software may retrieve vehicle data, look up DTCs, provide repair information, or guide testing. STEP focuses on preserving the active case and moving from the evidence to the next testable step.
A scan tool retrieves supported vehicle data such as DTCs, live values, and module information. STEP uses the information the technician collects to organize the case and guide what should come next.
Unlike an open-ended chat, STEP preserves evidence, hypotheses, completed checks, and changes in direction as one structured case.
STEP guides the diagnostic process. It can organize evidence, form and revise working hypotheses, recommend the next check, interpret the recorded result, and identify when the evidence supports a repair. It cannot physically inspect the vehicle or independently confirm that a test was performed under the required conditions. The technician performs or supervises the work and confirms the final diagnosis and repair decision.
No. STEP connects authorized, applicable information to the active case and preserves how it was used. Technicians must continue to follow current manufacturer information, tool instructions, and workplace safety procedures.
Yes. A case can begin with the symptom, operating conditions, vehicle behavior, recent work, and other available evidence.
Vehicle-specific diagrams, pinouts, procedures, locations, specifications, and test values can be included only when available through authorized sources and within supported vehicle coverage.
Coverage is still being expanded and validated. Early-access scope will depend on the vehicles, systems, and diagnostic use cases supported at onboarding.
STEP is a working prototype preparing for staged early access. Initial interactive pilots are planned for late 2026, subject to product readiness. General availability has not been announced.
Help shape the diagnostic workflow
Join the STEP early-access list and tell us about the vehicles, diagnostic work, and team you want the workflow to support.
