On today’s show… despite record new car sales the average age of cars in the American market is getting older, Chinese automaker Qoros is developing an engine that doesn’t use a camshaft and a new kind of shock absorber that’s been developed by a highly secretive supplier. All that and more coming right up on Autoline Daily.

This is Autoline Daily the show for enthusiasts of the automotive industry.

THE AGING (CAR) POPULATION
As we reported yesterday, automakers in the U.S. are still on track to break last year’s sales record. But even though new car sales are at an all-time high, the average age of passenger cars continues to get older. IHS Markit reports the average age is now 11.6 years, up from 11.5. And the number of vehicles on the road also hit a record. There are now 264 million vehicles in the U.S. which is 6.2 million more than last year. A key reason is that the scrappage rate is very low. A little more than 11 million vehicles are getting scrapped, even though we’re adding over 17 million new ones.

QOROS DEVELOPS CAMLESS ENGINE
Some say the internal combustion engine’s days are numbered, but we think they still have a lot of life left to breath. And now Chinese automaker Qoros is providing some oxygen. It’s testing out a development vehicle with its QamFree engine. As the name implies the engine doesn’t have a camshaft. Rather it uses electronically controlled hydraulic lifters to open and close the exhaust and intake valves. This allows for infinite valve variation, meaning you can control the engine for maximum power or be as fuel efficient as possible. Another benefit of not having a camshaft is the cylinder head is much smaller than a conventional engine. So, it frees up space and reduces weight. A sister company of supercar maker Koenigsegg, called FreeValve actually came up with the technology and worked with Qoros to apply it to one of the automaker’s engines.

The race is on for global leadership with autonomous cars and we’ll have more about that after this.

AUTONOMY FROM nuTONOMY
At the end of August, start-up company nuTonomy became the first to offer autonomous rides to the public after it launched a self-driving taxi service for select residents in Singapore. And now the company has signed a deal with the city of Boston and the Massachusetts Department of Transportation to test autonomous cars there. By the end of the year, nuTonomy will begin tests in public areas using a fleet of Renault Zoe electric cars. We’ve heard some people say that autonomous cars are decades away, but this shows they’re already hitting the streets.

BMW & BAIDU ARE SPLITSVILLE
Meanwhile there was an interesting development in China regarding autonomous vehicles. BMW and Baidu, which is often called the Google of China, had been cooperating on developing autonomous technology. But last week they decided to go their separate ways. They didn’t explain why, but here’s our Autoline Insight. The U.S. and Europe are basing their V2V technology on DSRC, or dedicated short range communication. But China sees an opportunity to leapfrog that and go to 5G LTE. The advantage of DSRC is that it’s already developed and ready to go. 5G is still a few years away but is better for streaming infotainment into cars. It seems to us that BMW wanted to stick with DSRC while Baidu wanted to go with 5G. And this shows how the race for leadership in AVs is really starting to heat up.

Coming up next, shock absorber technology that is shockingly sophisticated from a highly secretive supplier.

MULTIMATIC’S SHOCKING REVELATION
The Jeep Wrangler can be an amazing rock crawler, but not so great at high-speed off-road driving. The Ford Raptor is amazing at high-speed off-road driving, but too wide to make its way through narrow canyons and crevices. So meet the Chevrolet ZR2. Based on the Colorado pickup, Chevy says it’s perfect for rock crawling, and for high-speed off-roading, and for everyday commuting. The secret to its success are these amazing shock absorbers developed by Multimatic. That’s the highly secretive Canadian company that is making the Ford GT. They’re called DSSV dampers which stands for Dynamic Suspension Spool Valve. Chevy first used them on the Camaro Z/28. The shocks feature three separate chambers that allow for more suspension travel and control. And instead of using discs that deflect under pressure, they use spool valves. They kind of work like the intake and exhaust ports in a two stroke engine and give development engineers far more tuning control. The result is a suspension that can smoothly run over serious obstacles yet provide a comfortable ride for everyday commuting. It first developed the shocks for Formula One and currently provides the Red Bull team with amazingly tiny shocks like the one seen here compared to a more conventional strut. At Autoline we love showing you the creativity and innovation coming out of the supplier community and this is a stellar example.

And that brings us to the end of today’s report. But before we go, a programming note here. Due to the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday, Autoline After Hours will be off the air this week. In fact Autoline Daily will be off both this Thursday and Friday. But we will be here tomorrow, and hope to see you then.