OLEDWorks

Researchers from the University of Michigan, in collaboration with OLEDWorks, has developed an OLED device that converts near infrared (NIR) light into visible light and amplifies it more than 100 times. Compared to current night-vision systems based on image intensifiers, this device could enable a much more efficient and light-weight solution. 

The OLED device integrates a photo-absorbing layer inside the OLED stack, that converts infrared light into electrons. Those electrons are converted into visible light photons via the OLED layers - about five photons are created for each electron, and some of these photons are re-absorbved, converted into more electrons, and then even more photons, creating a great amplification of the absorbed NIR light. 

Audi unveiled its latest Q5 and SQ5 SUVs (2025 model). Both new cars adopt OLED lighting taillights and two AMOLED displays inside the car.

The OLED taillights utilize Audi's second-generation digital OLED solutions, and has six digital OLED lighting 'panels' made from 266 separate lighting segments. Audi says that the new OLED taillights can communicate with the vehicle’s immediate surroundings (Car-to-X) - for example it warns other road users of accidents and breakdowns in the road ahead. The OLED panels and technology are provided by OLEDWorks.

Audi unveiled its 2025 Q7 and SQ7 SUVs, with the latter offering the company's 2nd-gen OLED taillights. It is not clear whether these will be standard or optional.

Audi did not detail much about these OLED taillights - but these are likely to be similar to the ones used in the new Q6 e-tron, which uses a total of 360 individual OLED panels built into 6 different lighting panels (each made from 60 OLED panels, or segments as Audi calls them).

OLED lighting developer OLEDWorks announced that it has been awarded a $8.6 million US army project to develop high-performance OLED microdisplays for consumer and defense applications. The display is targeted specifically towards head-mounted display applications in the AR and VR markets.

OLEDWorks says that its microdisplay platform offers high brightness, full color, and excellent lifetime. The company says that it is developing three OLED microdisplay products. The company's displays are based on OLEDWorks' proprietary multi-stack (3, 4, and 5-stacks) OLED technology to OLED microdisplays.

In July 2023, Audi unveiled the upcoming 2024 Audi Q6 e-tron, with its second-gen OLED taillight technology. The new taillight lighting system use a total of 360 individual OLED panels built into 6 different lighting panels (each made from 60 OLED panels, or segments as Audi calls them), and is able to show warnings and signals to other drivers. Audi now released a nice video showing the new OLED taillight modules in action:

Audi will ship the cars with 8 pre-configured digital light signatures, and customers will be able to add their personal light signatures using the myAudi app. The OLEDs are likely produced by OLEDWorks, like all of Audi's recent OLED panels.

US-based OLED lighting developer OLEDWorks seems to be focusing on automotive OLED lighting solutions for the last few years, and the company now announced a separate brand for automotive OLED lighting - Atala.

OLEDWorks explains that the new brand will support a line of automotive qualified OLED lighting products designed specifically for Tier 1 suppliers and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). The name Atala originates from an acronym for advanced technology for automotive lighting applications.

Audi has unveiled the 2024 Q8 (and SQ8) SUV, which will sport OLED taillights, similar to the ones used in the 2022 Audi A8. These digital taillight OLEDs are supplied by OLEDWorks.

Audi recently announced that the 2024 Audi Q6 e-tron will come with its its second-gen OLED taillight technology, with 360 individual OLED panels built into 6 different lighting panels. The Q8 will likely use Audi's first-gen design, as it is said to be similar the the 2022 A8. The Q6 e-tron will also sport an AMOLED display in the dashboard. 

Audi unveiled the upcoming 2024 Audi Q6 e-tron, with its second-gen OLED taillight technology. The new taillight lighting system use a total of 360 individual OLED panels built into 6 different lighting panels (each made from 60 OLED panels, or segments as Audi calls them), and is able to show warnings and signals to other drivers. The OLEDs are likely produced by OLEDWorks, like all of Audi's recent OLED panels.

Audi will ship the cars with 8 pre-configured digital light signatures, and customers will be able to add their personal light signatures using the myAudi app. 

Last week at CES, OLEDWorks demonstrated some of its latest automotive OLED Lighting solutions. Developed together with Corning, Valeo and STMicroelectronics, OLEDWorks’ newest demonstrator contained the highest density of individually addressable segments of any flexible OLED panel.

You can see the new flexible OLED demonstrator in the video above on the left (the device on the right uses rigid OLED panels). OLEDWorks says that individually segmented OLED lighting panels increase safety on the road by allowing for improved communication through dynamic animation sequences and symbols. Manufacturing these OLED panels on flexible glass further expands lighting design opportunities with the ability to conform with curved surfaces in the car, integrating lighting directly into the vehicle’s architecture.