South Korean supplier Hyundai Mobis on February 22 announced that the company became the first in the world to develop an HLED that can be bent flexibly like a thin film, which means a single LED can serve as both the stop lamp and the tail lamp at the same time with only 5.5mm thickness of the LED surface.

The company has named this new rear lamp system HLED, which signifies high performance, high definition and homogeneity. Hyundai Mobis says most vehicles today have the tail lamp and stop lamp separately under the safety laws. According to the laws, the stop lamp must be much brighter than the tail lamp.

However, the HLED, developed by Hyundai Mobis, allows the tail lamp and the stop lamp to be implemented with a single LED by just controlling the light with electrical signals. Moreover, the HLED can generate bright and uniform stop light even when it is bent by emitting light in five different directions. As a result, the rear lamp will be more visible to the drivers of the vehicles approaching from the rear and side.

In comparison to the existing ream lamp, HLED can create various lamp design since it can be bent or curved. It is also possible to secure more space and offer lower weight, as it removes all the internal components used for existing rear lamp by controlling light with the new LED alone.

Hyundai Mobis has passed the reliability tests of Europe (ECE) and the US (SAE) related to tail lamps and stop lamps. It has already received orders from European automakers and is currently conducting mass-production development of HLED.

Oh Heung-sup, head of the Lamp BU at Hyundai Mobis said: "We will accelerate technology development and introduce the lamp technology customised for future automobiles as represented by electrification and autonomous driving."