OLED technology accomplishes entirely new design options for light sources and gains huge interest among customers in the automotive industry. OLEDs are flat light sources that achieve more homogeneity and can be steplessly and individually dimmed.

Rapid progress in OLED technology

Another new fascinating quality of this technology is its flexibility. Beside concave and convex bending, OLEDs feature incisions in lighting area. As part of the R2D2 project supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), research was carried out into flexible OLEDs - a completely new design dimensions for designers. Osram shaped flexible OLEDs into three-dimensional modules by Hella and integrated in rear lights in accordance with a design produced by Audi.

As flexible OLEDs consists of three individually controllable and dimmable segments, they don't need any reflectors, light guides or similar optics to be seen from any viewing angle. The presented rear lamp demonstrator by Osram is made of stainless steel as substrate and therefore a robust material that is suited for automotive conditions.

Today the light emitted by the flexible OLED already fulfils the relevant ECE standards for luminious intensity and emission colours for rear position lamps. With the successful completion of the project and the first mass produced cars with ultra low-profile but rigid glass-based OLEDs appearing right now on the market, flexible OLEDs are expected to be ready for series production in only a few years’ time.