EPN Automotive Electronics Blog

Between sun and light

Remember the development of the Laser? At first, it was a »solution looking for a problem«, then it replaced traditional components and today, most of modern technology wouldn’t be possible without it. The OLED – organic LED – seems to be on a similar track; since these are not the sixties however, it’s going much faster and the categories blur. The thin lines between nonsense, good idea and outstanding innovation are hard to make out, even when you’re looking up to your car’s roofliner.

Desperate days

After the horrifying earthquake followed by the disastrous tsunami, Japan now faces its most serious crisis since World War II. The country is confronted with a cascade of accumulating problems that suggest that radioactive releases of steam from the crippled nuclear power plants could go on for weeks or even months. At least, Tokyo’s stock exchange Nikkei plunged over 6% with start on Monday and ended below 10,000 after the quake: Major carmakers fell across the board on Monday as they were forced to suspend operations at their plants, largely due to shortages of supplies, while construction-linked shares surged on investors' expectations of an increase in demand for rebuilding.

Step into the light

So you think the list of extra equipment for your next car is too short? 80something microcontrollers are not sufficient? Here is what you need: The illuminated tread plate!

embedded world 2010: That’s how the future will look like

Despite the crisis, the the industry’s international get-together continues its growth: The trade show embedded world 2010 is setting trends and records. Especially within the automotive area there is a lot of movement going on: The amount of electronics, software and control devices installed in motor vehicles is growing dramatically, and the move towards electric cars will only strengthen this trend.

Automotive ceramic LEDs for front-light clusters

Osram Opto Semiconductors has added a low-cost, high-power ceramic version to its range of LEDs intended for the front-light clusters of mid-range vehicles as daytime lighting. the high-power ceramic component is available in two versions: the MX ECE and the less powerful SX ECE. Both are tailor-made to meet the demands of the aut