OLED Surface Light Control LED Taillights With 216 Segments in Real Time

Related Vendors

FAULHABER Drive Systems

Taiwan Machine Tool & Accessory Builders' Association (TMBA)

Wuxi InfiMotion Technology Co., Ltd.

Audi plans to use OLED surface lighting in the taillights of the Q3. A total of 216 segments are intended to enable dynamic signatures.

Starting next year, Audi plans to offer digital OLED lights as an optional feature in the taillights of the new Q3. This transforms the light source into a programmable exterior display. However, the key component is not just the OLED itself—but the highly complex control system and its integration into the vehicle electronics.

From Surface Emitter to Pixel Array

The OLED panels supplied by "OLEDWorks" are thin and homogeneous as area light sources. However, the term "digital" is not a property of the light source but describes the system design:

1. Extreme segmentation: The hardware consists of six digital OLED modules per light, divided into a total of 216 fine, isolated segments (6x36). This transforms the large-area OLED into a high-resolution pixel array.
2. Individual Addressability (Digitalization): Unlike older OLED lights with static signatures or coarser segments, each of these 216 segments must be individually controlled in real time via an internal bus system. This requires specialized driver ICs with high channel density and a dedicated OLED controller – acting as a bridge between the vehicle software and the physical hardware.

Sophisticated Hardware in the Digital Architecture

Implementing the digital functions is demanding in terms of hardware:

• Control and Bandwidth: The animations, dynamic blinking, coming/leaving home functions, and rapid switching for hazard warnings require very high serial bandwidth between the controller and the driver ICs to smoothly update the brightness and state of 216 segments. The control frequency must be high enough to ensure that no flickering is perceptible.
• Functional safety (ISO 26262): As a safety-relevant component, the electronics must comply with ASIL requirements. The control hardware must be designed redundantly and monitored to quickly detect failures of individual segments—short circuits, open load—and activate a defined emergency function.
• Thermal management of segments: The precise control and power output of the many active segments require a carefully designed heat dissipation system. While the thermal load is lower than with point LEDs, it must be evenly distributed across the panel to ensure the longevity and color uniformity of the organic layers.

Communication via Light

The digitization aims to enable active communication with the environment via light—a step away from mere illumination toward a car-to-X display:

• Personalization: The selection of the four light signatures is achieved by loading a specific software mapping file into the OLED control unit, which groups the 216 segments into different patterns.
• Situational adaptation: Proximity detection is a classic example of the interaction between sensor data and digital control. The hardware is instructed by the central bus system to activate all 216 segments simultaneously when a distance of two meters is undershot, in order to send a warning.

The digital OLED technology is a complex interplay of surface light hardware, highly integrated driver ICs, and software logic—turning light into a connected interface. (thg)