Service Bay Guide.
Diagnose. Document. Deliver.
Everything you need to run a diagnostic session in the Service Bay, from the first scan to the report you hand the customer.
Getting Started
Sign In
Log in with your Lane Pilot credentials. Your plan sets your session limit and which features you see: the Free plan (3 sessions in total, no card), Solo Pro, Shop, Multi-Bay or Fleet.
Command Center
The Command Center shows your “Sessions used” count, “Diagnose a problem” (opens the Service Bay), “Scan vehicle” (connect an adapter or import a scan, free) and a History tile. First time connecting an adapter? Start with the Scanner Guide.
Start a Diagnosis
In the Service Bay tap "+ New Diagnosis", or "⚡ Quick Start" for a blank job. The form asks for the vehicle, VIN (a full VIN decodes the engine), repair order, customer concern and fault code. Nothing is required, but the RO is strongly suggested and the concern is recommended. An empty diagnosis offers "Type a code or symptom", "Snap a Code" (a photo of a scan tool screen) and "Scan Vehicle".
Diagnostic Chat
The Diagnostic Engine is a conversational diagnostic assistant that reasons over the vehicle's own data. Type your symptoms, paste fault codes, or ask technical questions. It responds with pin-tests, specifications and step-by-step procedures where the data supports them — built on NHTSA recall data, federal complaint history, and repair outcomes confirmed by Lane Pilot technicians, plus this vehicle's own prior visits when the VIN has been seen before.
Text Input
Type symptoms, paste DTCs, or ask technical questions. Your data is cross-referenced against NHTSA recalls, complaint records, and repair outcomes confirmed by other Lane Pilot technicians.
Photo Evidence & Annotated Return
Snap up to 5 photos per message. Visual Repair Intelligence analyzes your images and returns them untouched — with SVG overlays on the components relevant to the diagnosis. Tap a bounding box for the part name and its severity grade.
Voice Dictation
Press and HOLD the mic while you talk, then release — it works like a walkie-talkie, not a tap-to-start toggle. Speak naturally — "Customer says grinding noise from front left when braking." Dictation uses your browser’s built-in speech recognition; on Chrome that means audio is transcribed by Google’s speech service. Type instead if the bay conversation is sensitive.
Reference Retrieval (curated, limited)
Before answering, Lane Pilot can run a vector search over its indexed reference library, scoped to the vehicle’s make, and attaches a citation pill only when a strong same-make match clears the bar — no match, no pill, rather than a citation we cannot stand behind. The library is deliberately small right now: reference sets are activated only after their provenance is verified, so expect most diagnoses to reason from the vehicle’s own scan data instead.
CAN Log Upload
Attach (+) → Upload CAN Log, then drop a text capture with raw hex frames (.trc, .asc, .log, .csv or .txt, up to 10 MB) into the panel or browse for it. Binary .blf files are not read. The log's frames are summarised for the Diagnostic Engine — each arbitration ID with its frame count and first and last payload, busiest IDs first — and that summary rides with your next message, not the raw log.
Scope Capture
Attach (+) → Scope Capture takes a scope export as a .csv file or a .png screenshot. A CSV is summarised on your device and only that summary rides with your message; a screenshot goes as a photo and counts toward the 5 per message. PicoScope .psdata files need converting first (in PicoScope 7: File → Save As → CSV).
Acoustic NVH Capture (Beta)
Attach (+) → Acoustic NVH records ~8s of engine-bay audio. Lane Pilot analyzes the impact-repetition rate on-device and, when you enter idle RPM, separates 0.5x valvetrain (lifter/cam) from 1.0x bottom-end (rod/main) noise. Confidence-gated — it stays quiet when the signal is too noisy to be sure. The recording itself is analyzed on the device and never uploaded; only the numeric result is sent. (The optional video attachment beside it is a normal upload and does carry its sound.)
Diagnostic Flowcharts
For complex multi-branch fault isolation the Diagnostic Engine draws an interactive flowchart. Follow the decision tree visually — test steps, branch points and outcomes laid out in order.
Guided Diagnosis
While Standard Mode provides conversational troubleshooting, Guided Diagnosis walks you through fault isolation one test at a time, branching on the outcome you report.
Dynamic State Machine
Unlike static factory flowcharts that hit dead ends, Guided Diagnosis adapts to your specific findings (e.g., aftermarket wiring, rodent damage).
Step-by-Step Isolation
Provides one clear, actionable instruction per step. Just perform the test, tap the outcome button (e.g., "Yes, 12V Present"), and advance.
How to use Guided Diagnosis
- 1. Find the switch: It sits at the left end of the toolbar row under the vehicle details, on the same row as Tech Report, Share and More. If you have scrolled down or the keyboard is open, the header folds and hides it: tap the chevron on the folded bar to bring it back.
- 2. Flip it: Tap the grey switch labelled STANDARD MODE. It turns teal and the label changes to GUIDED DIAGNOSIS.
- 3. Follow the steps: The Diagnostic Engine reads your fault code and gives you the first pinpoint test. Do the test on the vehicle, then tap one of the outcome buttons under “Select your result” at the bottom of the chat (for example “12V Present” or “No Voltage”), or type your own finding. When the run finishes, “Exit Guided Mode” takes you back to Standard Mode.
NHTSA Enrichment & Vehicle Memory
Every diagnostic query is automatically enriched with parallel intelligence sources before the Diagnostic Engine generates its response. You don't need to search for recalls or check complaint databases — it happens behind the scenes.
NHTSA Recall Agent
Automatically queries the federal recall database for open recalls matching your vehicle's year, make, and model. Active recalls are flagged in the diagnosis with campaign numbers.
NHTSA Complaint Agent
Pulls federal owner complaints for the same year, make and model and surfaces the ones whose component overlaps your DTC — so a known pattern of the same failure reaches the diagnosis without you going to look for it.
Cross-Session Vehicle Memory
If this VIN has visited your shop before, the Diagnostic Engine recalls the previous diagnosis, DTCs, and repair outcome. "This vehicle was here 3 weeks ago with the same P0300 — last time it was ignition coil #4."
Confirmed-Fix Lookup
When other Lane Pilot technicians have logged a confirmed fix for the same DTC, it is injected into your diagnosis — what they replaced, and how many confirmed it, with same-make matches ranked first. Your own confirmed fixes join that pool (see Repair Outcome Tracking below).
ADAS Pre-Calibration Checklist
When the plan replaces, removes or adjusts a part a driver-assistance sensor depends on (windshield or forward camera, radar or bumper, mirror cameras, alignment, liftgate camera, headlamps), an interactive pre-calibration checklist appears, so you can confirm the preconditions before attempting a static or dynamic calibration.
10-Point Safety Checklist
Wheel alignment, ride height, tire pressure, level surface, OEM windshield, clear field of view, fuel level, cargo weight, sensor brackets, target positioning.
OEM Quick Reference
Auto-detects the vehicle make and displays make-specific calibration specs: scan tool required, target distance, target reference, and dynamic drive parameters. Covers Land Rover, Audi, Volkswagen, BMW, Mercedes, Toyota and Ford, with a general spec for everything else.
The checklist opens on its own after a reply whose plan replaces, removes, installs, aligns, adjusts or aims a part a driver-assistance sensor depends on: the windshield or forward camera, the front bumper, grille or radar, the rear bumper or quarter panels, mirrors and surround-view cameras, steering and suspension geometry, the liftgate or rear camera, or the headlamps. Reading a code or testing a circuit does not open it. Seven of the ten items are marked Required — each carries a badge, with oversized checkboxes designed for gloved operation — and the checklist warns you if you proceed without them.
DMS Write-Back & PDF Export
After the Diagnostic Engine delivers its analysis, queue it to your shop system from the diagnosis toolbar, or save it as a PDF.
DMS write-back is available on Shop and above — the action is not shown on Solo Pro, and the same floor applies to connecting a shop system (Command Center → "Shop System" tile). PDF export is on every plan.
Queue for your shop system
In the diagnosis toolbar open More → “Queue for <your system>” — it is named for the system you connected, and reads “Send to” only after a push in the same session actually wrote to it. It builds a structured work-order note from the diagnosis — Safety Warnings, Root Cause, Diagnostic Steps — and sends it to your Shop Management System. Read the result before you rely on it. The push runs in simulated mode unless your provider has a live write path enabled for your shop, and the response says which it was; a simulated push is logged, not written to the RO. Shopmonkey is the only provider with a live path implemented today — Tekmetric and the rest are always simulated, because no public RO-note endpoint has been confirmed for them.
Export PDF Report
Tap “Tech Report” in the diagnosis toolbar, or “Customer PDF” on Scan Review (“Export PDF” on a phone). Either generates a professional report with vehicle info, safety warnings, root cause hypothesis, and recommended steps, and downloads it as a .pdf file — no print dialog, no extra step. Open it to print or attach it to an email. (Two other buttons open your browser’s print dialog instead: More → Print for the whole session, and the Advisor Summary’s Print.)
Service Advisor Summary
Translate complex diagnostic output into plain-English customer explanations. Tap the “Advisor Summary” button below any diagnostic response to generate text you can copy and paste into SMS, email, or your DMS notes.
Available on Shop and above. On Solo Pro the Advisor Summary button is not shown. It uses 1 session per job; generating it again on the same job costs nothing more.
What It Does
Strips out DTCs, voltage specs, CAN-bus references, and technical jargon. Replaces them with simple descriptions, relatable analogies, and a severity rating (Routine / Important / Safety-Critical). No pricing, labor hours, or parts costs are included — those stay in your DMS.
How to Use
After the Diagnostic Engine delivers a diagnosis, tap Advisor Summary in the action bar. The button reads “Translating…” while it works. A purple card then shows the summary with a severity badge and two buttons: Copy (paste into SMS or email) and Print (a customer-facing report with vehicle info and signature lines, headed with your shop’s name if it is set in Shop Settings, otherwise Lane Pilot). Below the summary, the Refine box rewrites it to your instruction, for example “shorter, and lead with the safety note”. The summary is not saved with the chat, so copy or print it before you reload.
Per-Message Feedback
Every Diagnostic Engine response includes 👍 / 👎 feedback buttons in the action bar. This is separate from the Repair Outcome system — it rates the quality of each individual response, not the final repair outcome.
👍 Accurate
The diagnostic advice was accurate and actionable. Your vote is recorded against that response so weak answers can be found and reviewed.
👎 Inaccurate
Flags the response for review. The vote is logged with the fault code and the first 200 characters of the response for our engineering team.
Repair Outcome Tracking
After completing a repair, answer “Did this diagnosis fix the vehicle?” A confirmed fix is retrieved into later diagnoses of the same DTC — yours and other Lane Pilot technicians’, same-make matches first (see Confirmed-Fix Lookup above). Nothing is trained on it: the outcome is looked up and shown to the Diagnostic Engine as evidence.
✅ Yes, fixed it
Diagnosis was accurate and the repair resolved the issue.
⚠️ Partially — needed more work
Right direction, but additional repairs were needed.
❌ No — different root cause
Actual root cause was different from what Lane Pilot diagnosed.
You can also add optional tech notes describing what actually fixed the vehicle. Your session data is RLS-scoped to your account — but be aware that a confirmed fix is pooled: once you mark an outcome fixed, that DTC, the vehicle make/model and the tech note you typed can be surfaced to other Lane Pilot technicians diagnosing the same code, and their confirmed fixes are surfaced to you the same way. That pooling is the Historical Fix Database. Keep customer names, plates and anything you would not show another shop out of the note field.
Session Management
Scan Handoff
Arriving from the OBD Scanner, your scan data (VIN, DTCs, PIDs, freeze frame, CalID) is carried into the session for you — no retyping, no re-pasting. On Multi-Bay and Fleet a scan with one candidate code (or none) goes straight to diagnosis with no tap; with two or more candidate codes you pick which to lead with first. On Free, Solo Pro and Shop it waits behind a one-tap confirm, so a session is never spent against your quota without you asking.
Engine Context Prompt
If the VIN decode or OBD scan didn't identify the engine, a banner prompts you to type it ("5.0L Coyote V8"). This ensures the diagnosis is engine-specific — critical for vehicles with multiple available engines.
Retry Recovery
If a request errors out (timeout, flaky Wi-Fi, 500), tap "↩ Restore & Retry" and your text and photos come back into the message box — no retyping, no re-uploading photos — then tap Send again. Re-attach a CAN log or scope capture if you had one. Reloading the page clears what was kept.
Always Open
Sessions stay open until you manually close them, with no automatic timeout, and the conversation is saved to the cloud. Close the browser, road test the vehicle, take a lunch break, come back — your session and full conversation are waiting.
Subscription Tiers
| Feature | Solo Pro | Shop | Multi-Bay | Fleet |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly Sessions | 200 | 700 | 2,000 | 6,000 pooled |
| Diagnostic Chat | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Deeper Reasoning | Hard cases | Hard cases | ✅ | ✅ |
| Photo Evidence | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Voice Dictation | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| OBD-II Scanner | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Live PID Graphing | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Guided Diagnosis | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| ADAS Checklist | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| NHTSA Enrichment | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Advisor Summary | — | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Outcome Tracking | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| PDF Export | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| DMS Write-Back | — | 🟡 Beta | 🟡 Beta | 🟡 Beta |
| Team Roles & Shop Settings | — | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Fleet Dashboard | — | — | — | ✅ |
| Multi-Location Mgmt | — | — | — | ✅ |
| Overage Billing | — | — | $20 / 100 | $15 / 100 |
Deeper reasoning: on Multi-Bay and Fleet every diagnosis gets the Diagnostic Engine’s deepest reasoning. Solo Pro and Shop start with a faster pass and step up to it when the first pass is not confident. Live PID graphing is part of the free scanner, so every plan has it.