AAA weekly
2020-04-13
Copyright FOURIN, Inc. 2023
2021 BMW iNEXT Will Adopt ISELED, New Integrated Full-Color LED (RGB LED) System
The use of LEDs for interior/cockpit lighting began in the early 1990s, and the number of LEDs installed per vehicle increased dramatically in the 2000s as OEMs started to adopt ambient lighting for interior. As the trend grew, however, OEMs have recognized an underlying issue of its calibration, which varies depending on suppliers and even their production sites.
The cost and effort to adjust the inconsistencies increases in proportion to the number of LEDs used. This has been one of the challenges when using a large number of LEDs for interior. To solve this, lighting engineers of BMW established an open alliance for automotive lighting solutions, called ISELED, with LED makers, cable/connector/harness manufacturers, and system controller suppliers in 2016. By the end of January 2020, 28 companies had joined to the alliance. The meat of ISELED is that any lighting system made by any supplier at anytime and anywhere will have the same, consistent color and brightness. This is because the driver IC (ISELED standard) is built into the module.

That is, only software adjustment in the production process is required when correction is needed; there is no need to change the resistance value and/or component parts unlike the conventional system. Besides, there are only two cables for two-way communication, and the package is relatively small. Although the official announcement has not been made yet, the first ISELED system installed product will be mass-produced in the spring of 2020. Also, it seems that BMW iNext released in 2021 will adopt the product for its interior lighting and will have 500 to 600 ISELED-compatible LED modules per vehicle. It is likely that Dominant, a member of ISELED, will produce the LED modules, and Valeo will incorporate them into instrument panels and center consoles.
VW and Daimler seem to be interested in establishing an alliance like ISELED to develop integrated LED systems. This trend is expected to accelerate the interior LED systemization and increase the precision of the LEDs in color tone and brightness adjustment.
ISELED on BMW iNext, Released in 2021
RGB LED
・An RGB LED is a combination of three (red, green, and blue) LEDs in just one package. Compared to conventional single-color LEDs, RGB LEDs have more variety of colors and gradients and its full color conversion is easier. ・Since the mid-2010s, RGB LEDs have been used as ambient lighting for automotive cockpits.ISELED Alliance

Mass production of the new integrated RGB LEDs and its impact on LED field
