> Beginning with the type inference (ie using "auto" to declare vars).

GCC (and possibly other compilers) had typeof in the '90s well before D was first released. Macros in the form:

   #define    TYPEOF(name, expr) typeof(expr) name = expr

Were widely in use since then.

I'm sure that C++ borrowed concepts from D, but type deduction (not inference BTW) is not one of them.