[rcv]

> Instead they get depth from video.

Do you have a source for that? DfM is pretty much always a worse option than multi-camera reconstruction AFAIK.

> almost every situation the car would cast a shadow to that featureless wall.

I think "almost every situation" a pretty low bar for automotive safety.

I don't know too much about what people do in the automotive world, but in robotics it's pretty common to have an IR pattern projector if you really need depth on featureless surfaces.