A couple of months ago, OSRAM posted an interesting article saying that OLED is the next technological development for car lighting. Today the company announced that it will unveil its OLED for automobiles product roadmap during the Frankfurt International Motor Show (September 12). The company says they achieved "road suitability" for their OLEDs and they will start offering initial special equipment based on OLEDs next year. They see OLEDs used in "series production of new vehicles" in 2016 at the latest.
Last year Osram were able to increase the temperature stability of their OLEDs. Now their panels are stable at 85 degrees Celsius for several hundred hours. Now the company says that the remaining obstacles regarding serial production are small. The company expects OLEDs to be used in rear light fixtures. Transparent OLEDs will offer new design possibilities.
In 2012 OSRAM unveiled a technical demonstrator (you can see the images above and below). They will now unveil a new successor prototype that meets the requirements for road traffic not only in matters of tail lights but also in brake light applications. OSRAM's prototype also enables to divide the homogenous light area into dynamically controllable segments, thereby creating a distinct lighting scenario, for example by clicking on the door lock remote control.
The Automobile market is attracting many OLED producers. A few months ago we reported about Audi's 3D OLEDs (developed by Philips and Merck), and in 2012 Astron Fiamm showed an updated Car.Bones prototype with OLED headlights, inside-lighting, turn indicators, and more. Osram themselves unveiled several prototype car OLED lighting devices in 2012, you can see the photos above and below.
OSRAM is currently producing several ORBEOS OLED lighting panels (we posted a review on April 2010). Their second-gen panels (featuring 40 lm/W) were launched in April 2012, produced in the company's new pilot production line in Regensburg. OSRAM is coordinating the new German government funded 34 million Euro OLYMP OLED lighting project.
Osram now tries to make up leeway by agressive marketing. Regarding technical issues (reliability) they are much further from OLED products in cars than some other OLED manufacturers.