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Weekly Recap: Autonomous driving goes commercial in Nevada

Nevada granted Daimler Trucks North America the first license to run an autonomous commercial vehicle on public roads in the United States Tuesday, marking another milestone in the technology's rapid advancement. Gov. Brian Sandoval and Daimler truck chief Wolfgang Bernhard promptly used the license to lap Highway 15 near Las Vegas in a newly revealed Freightliner Inspiration Truck. It was a clear signal that autonomous driving is big-rig reality, though it's still a long way from widespread use. Nevada certified two of Daimler's Freightliner Inspiration Trucks, which use the company's Highway Pilot system with a stereo camera, radar, and lane-keeping collision-prevention features to regulate the brakes and steering. The radar component has a long-range sensor that can cover 820 feet at an 18-degree angle and a shorter-range unit that stretches 230 feet at a 130-degree angle. The Inspiration trucks are based on the existing Freightliner Cascadia Evolution model used on US roads. In addition to the autonomous technologies, it also has futuristic design cues, including blue lighting in the front and a new hood and grille. While there are only two Freightliner Inspiration trucks in existence, Daimler expects to bring the Highway Pilot system into mass-produced big rigs by 2025, in time to capitalize on the market's predicted growth. The German truckmaker predicts the global hauling market will triple by 2050, and the United States will be a key part of that growth. Trucks carry 69.1 percent the nation's domestic freight tonnage and hauled 9.7 billion tons of freight in 2013, according to the American Trucking Association. Daimler expects autonomous driving to augment this growth, and perhaps evolve the role of the truck driver. Still, the company points out autonomous tech is not meant to replace drivers, but to assist them and relieve fatigue and monotony on long hauls. The driver has to stay in control for passing, in city traffic, and when hooking up the trailer. The company said autonomous driving also offers the potential for improved fuel economy – tests showed a five-percent gain – and lower maintenance costs. Daimler also said the technology could reduce congestion on the road. Much of this is attributable to the constant flow of traffic, which is aided by autonomous driving. While the benefits are becoming increasingly apparent, autonomous technology is still met with skepticism.

Italian cops get a Lamborghini to haul some precious cargo

Three years ago, we told you about Lamborghini's gift to law and order: a Huracan LP 610-4 that was donated to the Italian State Police. That car went into service near Rome in 2015, replacing a Gallardo they'd been using previously. Now, a second Huracan has just been delivered for service in the region around Bologna. Law enforcement may be done a bit differently in the country that convicted, acquitted, re-convicted and re-acquitted Amanda Knox. But why would a police agency need a $200,000, 610-horsepower supercar? Firstly, no one in their right mind turns down a free Lamborghini. Second, it's a display of national pride, decked out, to quote the press release, in "the official colors of the Italian Police (Police Medium Blue), with the white areas and lettering specially executed to match the Huracan's dynamic look. The livery is completed by a stripe divided into the three colors of the Italian flag, which runs along both sides of the vehicle. As is true for all Lamborghini cars, the Huracan Polizia is equipped with P Zero Pirelli tires, but their sidewalls are tinted in Police Medium Blue and were specially created for the occasion." And third, they actually did dream up a role that suits its capabilities. In addition to the usual cop-car complement of police radio, tablet computer, gun holster, fire extinguisher and hand-held sign for directing traffic, the Lambo has been designated for medical responses and, like many police cars in the States, carries a defibrillator for medical emergencies. More to the point, its front trunk is equipped with a special refrigeration system for transporting human organs for transplant. The authorities describe two cases in 2016 in which a series of transplants had donor organs busily crisscrossing the Lombardy and Tuscany regions to various recipients – a situation in which speed is of the essence. Between organ transplants, presumably the car's primary duty will be to look good, serving as an ambassador of goodwill for both the Polizia as well as Lamborghini. Related Video:

Lamborghini Concept S up for auction in New York

Reach back a decade into your supercar memory banks and you may recall that in 2005, Lamborghini rolled in to the Geneva Motor Show with a dramatic Gallardo speedster concept. That was the Concept S, designed by Luc Donckerwolke long before he shifted over to (and subsequently left) the Bentley design department. It packed all the cutting-edge angular design of the Gallardo coupe that had just debuted the year before, but predated the emergence of the Gallardo Spyder that followed the next. The Concept S featured more radical bodywork that bisected the open cockpit, with a pair of low-profile wind deflectors instead of a single-frame windshield. Sort of like the Aventador J concept from a few years ago, but in a more compact (and relatively more stylistically restrained) form. The original show car wasn't a runner, but it proved such a hit that Lamborghini made a second one – this time fully functional with V10 power – and brought it to Pebble Beach that summer. The static model is still on display at the Lamborghini Museum in Sant'Agata, and we took our time ogling it while in town for the opening of the new Trigeneration plant last week, but the runner was sold to a private collector, and now it's set to cross the auction block as part of RM Sotheby's upcoming sale in Manhattan. The auction house expects that it'll fetch between $2.4 and 3 million, and given this particular model's rarity, we don't doubt it'll command every penny, if not more. After all, the Veneno went for more than that, and as scarce as that crazy hypercar was (and remains still), between the coupes and roadsters, Lambo made a baker's dozen of those. In fact, the Concept S stands to set a new record for the highest amount ever paid for a Lamborghini at auction, which according to Sports Car Market was set in 2009 when a Reventon sold online for $2.5 million. The Reventon was a more dramatically styled version of the Murcielago and precursor of the Aventador, of which 21 were made. So just imagine how much collectors might prove willing to spend on the one-of-a-kind Concept S.