When a driver presses the start button in a GM vehicle, thousands of interconnected systems, from propulsion to infotainment, come alive at once. GM Diagnostic Architect Kevin Cochran is one of the experts ensuring those systems communicate reliably so vehicles remain safe, smart, and ready for continuous updates.
Working from GM’s Oshawa office, Cochran helps define the invisible diagnostic architecture that underpins tomorrow’s software-defined vehicles. As advanced driver-assistance systems, EV propulsion and high-performance computing units proliferate, diagnostics has become more essential—and more complex—than ever.
Building the Architecture for a Software-Defined Future
Cochran’s work directly supports GM’s next-generation software platform, which is designed to deliver continuous innovation through over-the-air updates, app-like experiences and cloud-based services. A central compute system allows GM vehicles to keep evolving long after they leave the assembly line, adding new features, improving performance and enabling safer operation over time.
He describes diagnostics as an engineering discipline with a decades-old rulebook that does not always map neatly onto autonomous driving, infotainment or other complex software domains. His role is to decide which principles to retain, which to rewrite and which to discard, striking a balance between innovation and accountability in a rapidly changing technical landscape.
Making Complex Systems Just Work
Cochran’s team supports some of GM’s most sophisticated electronic control units, including those that govern AV functions, safety systems and infotainment modules. Despite their complexity, these ECUs are engineered to consistently meet GM’s stringent quality and reliability benchmarks in real-world use.
The impact shows up in how GM vehicles behave in everyday driving, especially in edge cases. Systems like rear-view cameras, adaptive cruise control and Super Cruise are tuned to handle difficult scenarios smoothly—a refinement Cochran attributes to deep cross-functional collaboration and rigorous diagnostic design behind the scenes.
Turning Data into a Power Tool for Technicians
As GM vehicles become more connected, the volume of diagnostic data accessible to engineers and service technicians is growing exponentially. That surge in information is creating new opportunities to improve vehicles over their full lifecycle—if the data can be turned into meaningful insight.
Cochran notes that technicians today are often overwhelmed with raw data but lack sufficient context to quickly pinpoint issues. GM’s diagnostic strategy aims to filter, prioritize and present information in ways that help technicians diagnose and repair increasingly software-driven systems quickly and confidently, without needing to become IT specialists.
Quiet Innovation That Keeps Cars Moving
Cochran characterizes diagnostics as the “quiet enabler” of automotive innovation, a discipline focused less on flashy new features and more on flawless execution of the fundamentals. By ensuring diagnostic systems are reliable, scalable and future-ready, his team makes it possible for GM’s software and hardware innovations to evolve safely over time.
In a world where vehicles are defined as much by code as by mechanical components, this quiet reliability is what keeps progress on track, mile after mile. GM’s diagnostic architecture is thus emerging as a strategic asset, supporting the company’s transition to software-defined vehicles while preserving the safety, dependability and customer confidence that underpin its brands.
