The Future of Diagnostics - Blog Post - BP-FoD-01-090820

History of Diagnostics If you study the history of commercial vehicles, you will notice a steady increase in complexity. What started as a collection of powertrain components with one or two electronic control units (ECU) evolved into a connected system of computers and sensors capable of transmitting data anywhere in the world in real-time.

THE FUTURE OF DIAGNOSTICS

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THE FUTURE OF DIAGNOSTICS // BLOG POST

Diagnostic tools followed a similar model of progression to facilitate the rise in vehicle complexity. Technicians went from solely relying on physical inspections to using code readers on engines to equipping themselves with software designed by component manufacturers to help diagnose their proprietary parts. Later, Noregon changed diagnostics forever by introducing JPRO to simultaneously read all components and provide actionable information and valuable features that help technicians holistically diagnose trucks of any make or model.

Today, there are many ECUs on commercial trucks that communicate with each other, and issues on one ECU or component can affect the performance of another. To diagnose the modern commercial truck, technicians need advanced tools and an expansive skill set. One job may require electrical knowledge, while the next involves a series of tests initiated from their laptop or another shop device. Diagnostics now incorporate many of the skills and knowledge in STEM fields as technicians blend science, electronics, and technology to solve complex issues.

Eyeing Autonomy Reaching a point where self-driving (autonomous) vehicles are on the road without a person in the cab requires many pieces of a puzzle coming together. Safety is undoubtedly the utmost concern, which means trucks can’t only be equipped with the technology to operate while healthy but must also be prepared to handle malfunctions in real-time.

One of those puzzle pieces is a diagnostic tool’s role to keep pace with technological changes within commercial trucks, such as the advanced driver assistance systems recently debuted by component manufacturers. With this in mind, we spoke to Noregon Product Managers, Jason Hedman and Alec Johnson, for insight on how diagnostics - both in-shop and remote - will continue to evolve as trucktechnology eyes the long-term goal of autonomy.

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“As far as the evolution of truck technology, we’ve seen a major increase in the number of ECUs on the truck over the last couple of decades. This trend will continue exponentially,” said Johnson. “Safety systems on trucks will be incredibly robust, with a substantial increase in sensors and components to monitor. Additionally, nearly every system on the truck responsible for controlling the vehicle will be redundant.”

Redundancy is a significant requirement for autonomous vehicle systems. If a part fails, there must be another system on the truck that can perform the same task. If there is a lack of redundancy, the vehicle will switch to limp mode to pull over and halt its operation until a repair is made.

Autonomy will arrive in stages. The technology has to be flawless and legislation must allow for self-driving trucks to be on the road. The technology will likely be first adopted by trucks not operating on public roads, like in-yard trucks or mining vehicles and construction equipment.

Remote Diagnostics The popularity of remote diagnostics continues to grow and set the stage for the future of diagnostics. Historically, any sort of repair procedure required a technician in close vicinity to a truck. However, products like TripVision Uptime now alleviate the need to be near a truck to perform functions like clearing faults, forcing DPF regens, or configuring parameters. As trucks continue to become more connected, we will see that gap close even more as virtual technicians take advantage of the rise of IoT and perform repairs from anywhere with an internet connection.

“Like trucks, diagnostic applications will become much smarter. As their capabilities increase and more systems on the truck become connected, the number of virtual functions technicians can complete will quickly grow,” explained Hedman. “Consider an injector cutout – whereas today a technician has to listen to the results of the cutout test to find the affected cylinder, hardware on the truck will accomplish this without human assistance.”

“As far as the evolution of truck technology, we’ve

seen a major increase in the number of ECUs on the

truck over the last couple of decades. This trend will continue exponentially…”

JASON HEDMAN JPRO Product Manager

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Considering the cylinder cutout example, even if the truck cannot self-heal the issue, diagnostics could be completed before a technician ever arrives. Smart diagnostics can alleviate the burden of technicians from troubleshooting and discovering the root cause and simply allowing them to correct the problem upon arrival.

Prognostics are a necessity in future diagnostic applications for autonomy to be feasible. “Through advanced machine learning and A.I., we must be able to predict with a high degree of certainty when a part or component is likely to fail. We’ve started doing this today with TripVision Uptime and the introduction of new components will allow us to collect more data and continue to enhance the technology.” said Johnson.

In-Shop Diagnostics In-shop diagnostics will continue to increase in capabilities and, eventually, the diagnostic process will be automated. “Years back, a diagnostic tool simply showed the technician which faults were on the vehicle, then reached the point where the faults were explained to the technician to help them locate the root cause,” Hedman explained. “In the future, we expect the tool to analyze all the data it receives from the vehicle and perform the diagnostics for the technician, so the only job remaining is to fix the problem and stop wasting valuable time finding the root cause. Instead of displaying to the technician ‘these are the four faults and this is what they mean,’ the tool can explain to the technician ‘here is the problem and here are the three steps to fix it.’”

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With smarter in-shop and remote diagnostic tools working together, technician efficiency will be at an all-time high by removing a lot of the time spent on triage and diagnostics. If a truck can arrive at the service center and the technician already knows what the problem is and what is causing the issue, he or she can move directly to the repair process, which presents major uptime improvements for fleets.

Process in Action With an understanding of what remote and in-shop tools will be capable of, consider the following examples for how an autonomous truck could handle an issue arising.

For some problems, the truck will automatically shift itself over to relying on a redundant system and allow for repairs of the affected part during a scheduled maintenance event. In other cases, the vehicle may have the capability to heal while in transit. Finally, in other instances it can enter limp mode to get to a safe location to either perform a self-healing action, rely on a virtual technician, or await the arrival of a technician to complete hands-on repairs.

REDUNDANCY

NO REDUNDANCY

If a system fails and has one or fewer redundant systems to perform the same task, it is too risky for the truck to continue operating. The truck must put itself into limp mode and slowly pull over somewhere safe. Next, the fleet uses remote diagnostics to determine if a virtual technician can correct the problem, or if mobile repair must come to the site. In severe cases, fleets may opt to send another autonomous truck to the location to take over the load while the affected truck undergoes repairs.

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Exciting Journey

While level five autonomous trucks are still years away, it will be a fascinating journey to watch all the pieces of the puzzle come together. Components will become smarter and more connected. In-shop and remote diagnostic tools will improve in intelligence and capability, and vehicle manufacturers will implement all these technologies into their vehicles to create the futuristic, self-driving trucks we daydreamed about from a young age. With so many organizations working together toward a common goal, we look forward to a day when traffic accidents become a thing of the past, and repairs are more seamless than ever.

The Future of Diagnostics - Blog Post - BP-FoD-01-090820

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