Audi says it is presenting its next step OLED automotive lighting technology for the first time at the IAA in Frankfurt.
It says the new Matrix OLED lights enable a “previously unattainable level of lighting homogeneity, opening up further creative opportunities for design”.
Go deeper with GlobalData
OLED is an English acronym for ‘organic light emitting diode.’ In each OLED unit, two electrodes – of which at least one must be transparent – incorporate numerous thin layers of organic semiconductor materials. A low DC voltage – between three and four volts – activates the layers, each of which is less than one-thousandth of a millimetre thick, to light them. The colour is based on the molecular composition of the light source.
In contrast to point light sources – such as LEDs – which are made of semiconductor crystals, OLEDs are flat light sources. Their light attains a new level of homogeneity, and its dimming is continuously variable. The lights do not cast any shadows and do not require any reflectors, light guides or similar optical components – and this makes the OLED units efficient and lightweight. In addition, they hardly need any cooling.
